Boondock Jedi
by Traban16
Summary: Huey discovers a power; no a FORCE that will change the course of life as we know it in the galaxy FAR, FAR AWAY! "Breath, Anakin. Master Huey says that our eyes can decieve us, so don't trust them always." Obi-Wan said calmly to Anakin.
1. Prologue

This story will be Boondocks/Star Wars. I'm sure a lot of people will be interested in this.

_**Pairings**_: Huey/Jazmine, Traban/Ming, and Riley/Cindy

This story is set when Yoda is about to be trained in the Academy and then as a Padawan.

Beginning ages are:

Traban, Huey, Ming, Jazmine: 12

Riley and Cindy: 10

There will be four Boondocks characters with Jedi Powers, and maybe 2-3 OC's.

All will be revealed in due time.

Be sure to review if you like my story.

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><p><em><strong>Chapter 1: Prologue<strong>_

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><p><em><strong>May 27, 2006:<strong>_

Huey Freeman was not in a good mood. Why, you may be asking? Well at that exact moment it was his brother, Riley, who was being the cause of his problems right now. Huey, Riley and Jazmine were outside the cafeteria at J. Edgar Hoover Middle School. It had just got to be lunchtime and Riley was already up to something. Although, it wasn't the normal something like cursing people out or trying to be a thug. No, it was the something Huey had him learn just a month ago.

Huey, himself, had only discovered it a year ago along with Traban and Jazmine, and they showed Riley when they had finally gotten control over it. Now Riley was using it against others and it was… a bit funny, if Huey was honest with himself. Jazmine was standing beside him as they watched his younger brother come out of the cafeteria with Cindy. They had shown her and Ming to, but they weren't like Riley. They only used it when it was needed.

"Aye nigga, I'm hungry!" Riley exclaimed as he and Cindy walked up to them. Traban was already at their normal lunch spot, waiting for them, as he meditated under the large oak tree next to the stone table by it.

"Then go buy lunch, idiot." Huey hissed at him as they all walked over to Traban. Riley rolled his eyes.

"I ain't got no money. Huey, give me a dollar." Riley said as he reached out his hand. Huey gave him a look and kept walking. Huey sat alongside Traban as he took up a meditative-pose like Traban.

Jazmine sat at the table and watched her boyfriend meditate with Traban. She had been shocked when he came to her house eight months ago, with bruises, some small cuts, and clutching his katana as he asked her to be his. She wanted to faint, because that was the exact thing she had wanted, but she didn't faint. That didn't mean he didn't, because after he saw her nod yes, he passed out in her doorway. She looked out to see if anyone saw him faint, but all she saw was Traban hurt and clutching his katana, in her front yard. Every time she asked why, they either said nothing or changed the subject, and she had a feeling she really didn't want to know.

"You know what; I was _tryin'_ be good today, but _fuck_ that shit!" Riley yelled as he went up to a white kid who had gotten the burger lunch. When the kid saw him coming he froze in place and cowered in fear.

"Riley! Oh God! Look I'm sorry, man, but I just spend my lunch money and I need to eat. Can you not beat me up today?" the boy asked hopefully as Riley stopped in from of him with a slight grin.

"Aye, I'm not go hurt you, man. I just wanna show ya somethin'." Riley said as he gave the boy some room.

"Thanks, dude. So, what 'cha wanted to show me?" the boy asked excitedly as he thought Riley wanted to be friends.

"Well since we're friends, I thought I'd show you this. Look at my hand." Riley said as the boy obeyed. The boy got a blank look on his face and a faraway look in his eyes. His body relaxed as he stared dumbly at Riley's hand as he moved it back and forward.

"You will give me your fries, cuz we cool." Riley said slowly as the boy did as he was commanded and then walked away as if a zombie. The entire time Huey was shaking his head as he didn't even need to open his eyes to know what his brother had done. Riley came back over to them as he ate the fries and started sharing them with Cindy.

"See, I ain't need yo bitch-ass money no way." Riley said to his brother Huey. Traban and Huey snapped their eyes open as Ming came over to them with a self-satisfied smirk on her face. She placed her hands on her hips as she waited for them to acknowledge her.

She had started living in Woodcrest when her grandfather bet her life on a game of kickball about six months ago. Huey didn't care too much either way, but Traban said that they needed to win as if she went back to her grandfather she would be nothing , but a slave to the man's wishes for the rest of her life. Traban didn't want that for anyone, so Huey gave in and joined his best friend in the game with Traban leading the team since Wuncler wasn't involved this time.

It was a heated battle, and ten times better than the last one with Traban there. In the end they won and Ming was given to Traban, since he was the one who wanted to save her. Traban tore up the slave contract at first sight and said she was to live her own free life. Her grandfather called her a failure and renounced her as he left for China, leaving her in Woodcrest, with nowhere to go. Traban offered to let her stay with him since he lived by himself.

She accepted his offer and that was the start of their relationship. After living, and fighting, with each other for a month they confessed that they liked the other, and everything was smooth from there. Well, except for the fact they almost always tried to prove the other wrong, and that's exactly where it was about to go.

"It's just some new form of energy that has similar properties of telekinesis and we're able to use this new telekinetic energy, because each of us has a high aura level." Ming said cheekily as Traban and Huey stared at her. Jazmine sighed as this was the 25th time Ming tried to come up with an explanation for it. Riley and Cindy didn't care as they ate their fries. That was a whole lot of fries.

"Ming, my beautiful butterfly, that's wrong. It's still the same as the last time we told you. Now since you won't give up, we're all going to Huey's house to watch the movies to show you, I'm right." Traban said as he stood from where he was sitting. He walked over to Ming and tried to kiss her, but she moved away from him.

"No, I'm sure I'm right this time, and when we watch your movies, I will have the satisfaction of knowing I'm superior to you!" Ming exclaimed as Traban sighed.

"We've been over this, and you're acting evil again." Traban pointed out as she clapped her hands over her mouth.

"Sorry, but I'm sure it's right. I want you to know that just because you're the smartest of all of us that you can be wrong too." Ming said to Traban as he wrapped his arms around her, with her laying her head on his chest.

"I know I can be wrong, but I'm right on this one. Huey and me both came to this conclusion, so it's 100% right. Also, I've been wrong before; remember last week when we said who'd win in a fight: Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee? You were right, Bruce Lee whopped his _ass_!" Traban said as he hugged Ming close to him.

"Boo, aye, nigga, can you stop with all that shit at school. Ya'll two niggas live together so just-OW, Cindy, damn that shit hurt!" Riley exclaimed as Cindy smacked him in the back of his head. She gave him a stern look as he flinched back under it.

"What did I say about messing with them and bringing up sex? We're kids Riley, we don't need to do things like _that_ at least until we're all 16." Cindy said as she ate fries with Riley giving her a glare when she turned her head, but ate fries with her all the same. Huey and Jazmine were snuggled under the tree as they watched their friends.

"Huey, we're not going to have sex now, are we?" Jazmine asked with wide eyes as Huey sighed and brought her closer.

"I'll think about it." He replied as he kissed her neck, making her giggle.

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><p><em><strong>4 Hours Later, 4:05pm:<strong>_

School had ended and now they were on their way home. Ming was trying to convince Traban she was right, but it was to no avail. Huey was talking to Jazmine about his and Traban's newest experiment. Riley and Cindy were planning something devious, but the others knew it was their way to plan a date.

"If it is as old as you say then why don't more people have it? It must be relatively new if we're the only ones to develop it." Ming said as Traban hung his shoulders and sighed again for the 6th time today.

"Listen; no more, okay Ming? We're about to spend the next eight to twenty-four hours watching several different movies, so no more. It took us months to acquire all the movies, so I'd like to watch them in peace if you don't mind, okay?" Traban said desperately as she looked at his tired face and nodded. She grabbed his hand and took it in her own as they walked down the street with Huey and Jazmine in front of them.

"So you two are trying to make laser swords?" Jazmine asked as Huey nodded with his ever-present scowl on his face.

"Not exactly the name we'd use for them, but still the same. We've found and tested over 200 different metals, but none of them can withstand the intensity of the power source we have to use. We tried lessening it, but it just doesn't work. If it doesn't soon, then we may have to scrap the whole project until we have more resources. Although, our second project worked to the complete success we hoped for." Huey said with Jazmine nodding as they came to his house. Granddad was away on some Do-It-Big trip with Tom and Ruckus, so they had the house to themselves this summer.

Jazmine and Ming sat on the couch as soon as they entered the living room. Cindy and Riley wanted something to eat, so they immediately headed for the kitchen. Traban stopped at the living room door frame while he and Huey were talking.

"I'll be right back, I didn't bring the DVDs in my backpack, but since its summer anyway, it doesn't matter." Traban said as Huey shrugged as he left out the door. Huey went into the kitchen only to find Riley and Cindy eating out of a pot of soup Traban had cooked for them last night.

"How the _hell_ do you eat straight from the damn pot?" Huey asked as he narrowed his eyes at their stiffened backs. They turned to him as he sighed in annoyance. He had really liked that soup, too…

"Never mind, just help me make some snacks so we can watch these movies." Huey said in a hurry as he started pulling out many different from the cabinets and fridge. Riley and Cindy knew better to disagree with a quick-pace Huey so they did as they we're told, but Riley did so with the Freeman scowl he hand Huey were famous for.

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><p><strong>With Traban:<strong>

Traban was walking back to Huey's house as he had ran to his to get the four DVDs he had. He knew it would take a long time to get through all of them, plus the ones Huey had, but that wasn't what was making him walk in thought. He kept getting this feeling that they would be leaving very soon, and not coming back. It bothered him to no end, because he hadn't planned to go anywhere, and didn't know where this feeling was coming from. It was like something it the back of his mind was telling him to prepare for unexpected visitors and a new life.

He had been having that feeling all day. That's why he was meditating at lunch. He hadn't gotten any closer to the answer, but the feeling was growing stronger each minute. He just couldn't shake the feeling, so instead, he listened to it, and packed everything into his hyper-capsule.

The hyper-capsule was something he and Huey invented with funding from Ed Wuncler Sr. Huey didn't like it at first, but Traban ensured him it would be fine in the end. They had worked on it with Wuncler's team of scientist and in just a month created the first. It only took a week to find a way to mass produce them, but Wuncler only wanted it for himself and others he liked to possess the capsule. The old man did give Traban and Huey a hundred of the first mass produced capsules, and allowed them to start work on whatever they wanted to with his money backing it.

They had commissioned spaceships that would be able to travel the galaxy, but they scrapped that idea, because of resources. Now they were working on weapons that used energy sword-like properties. It was their second project which came as a great success. It was a language translator-device which could translate any language into English. Traban and Huey were so pleased by the success they invented a universal communication device. It wasn't strong enough to talk with other galaxies yet, but worked great for talking with the astronauts on Mars, and the Space Station.

Traban shrugged off his thoughts as he reentered Huey's house. He'd meditate on them later, but for now it was time to begin what he and Huey wanted to do ever since last year.

"I'm back! I got the DVDs so we can start, dude!" Traban yelled as he walked into the house. He turned to the living room and saw that Jazmine and Ming were on the couch talking about some crap he didn't care about.

"Alright, I just finished with the food; because this is gonna take a while. What took you so long? I know it doesn't take an hour to find your DVDs, because you're more organized than I am." Huey said as he came from the kitchen, drying his hands on a paper towel as he gazed at Traban.

"I packed all my stuff up. I don't know why, but ever since yesterday I've been getting the feeling that we're gonna leave, and not come back. I was meditating on it, but got nothing… What do you think?" Traban said quietly so no one else would hear them.

"Yeah, I've been getting that feeling, too, but it started before lunch today. I was going to ask you about that, but I didn't want to get you all paranoid, like when you saw White Shadow." Huey said to his best friend with Traban looking at him annoyed.

"Hey, when you suddenly see some guy from _**Men in Black**_ come from behind a tree you were _just_ behind, and not freak out over that fact he's been stalking your best friend for two years, _then_ you can say I'm paranoid. I've known you for two years, dude, and only just saw that dude five months ago." Traban said as Huey rolled his eyes, but had to agree it would freak him out, too.

"Fine, but I guess I'll go pack my and Riley's stuff in the capsules. I don't wanna let Jazmine, or Cindy, know just yet, so we won't say anything, okay?" Huey said as Traban nodded his head and they moved into the kitchen. They helped Riley and Cindy carry the food into the living room as Jazmine and Ming looked at them.

"Are we watching movies or having an eating contest?" Ming asked as she looked at all the food. Huey ignored the question, left the room, and went upstairs. Traban set his four DVDs by the DVD-player and then went over to the coffee table, where they set the food down.

"Trust me when I say this; we're gonna be in this room a long time. Maybe even all night, so this food will need to cover us for that time. If not, then I'll order pizza. The movies we're about to watch are three hours, each, so be prepared to be bored." Traban said as he helped organize the food on the coffee table. Huey came back into the room with two more DVDs.

Ming looked to the DVDs Huey had, and then at the ones on by the TV and DVD-player. She then calculated the hours in her head, _"If there are six DVDs, and each is three hours long, then that means we're going to be watching 18 hours of movies. Oh, Great Buddha, this is gonna be long as hell, as Riley would say…"_ Ming thought as she saw the same expression on Jazmine's face; utter dread.

"Now, now; don't worry, because they're actually pretty cool. They've got drama, action, adventure, romance, horror, and comedy in each and every one of them." Traban said with a smile as he used his fingers to count off the genres of the six movies.

"So, just what is the fuck we watchin' anyway?" Riley asked impatiently as he hopped on the other couch with Cindy sitting down next to him. Traban moved into one of the cozy chairs and Huey got into the other, but Ming and Jazmine pulled them to the couch with them.

"_**Star Wars: the Complete History**_" Traban and Huey said at the same time. Riley groaned, but stayed where he was all the same. Jazmine and Cindy huffed, but Ming looked confused.

"What's _**Star Wars**_?" she asked as they all gave her a look. Traban put a grin on his face as he slung his arm over her shoulder.

"You're about to find out." He said as Huey got up and put in the first DVD.

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><p><em><strong>19 Hours Later, 1:10pm:<strong>_

The last of the ending credits played for the bonus features they had watched from every DVD. The food they had was all gone with crumbs, plates, and empty wrappers, cans, bottles, and pizza boxes littered everywhere. They were awake and alert as they stared at the screen when Huey cut off the TV. Riley rubbed both his eyes as he stood up and stretched.

"I gotta tell ya; I thought _**Star Wars**_ was go be some gay-ass nerd shit, but that was one of the _best_ movies I ever saw. Right next to _**Karate Kid**_ with Will Smith kid in there." Riley said as he looked at his brother Huey.

"Yeah, I told you so" Huey said with a slight smirk.

"That was… amazing. Where did it come from again?" Ming asked as she still stared at blank TV.

"A man named George Lucas created it, cool, huh?" Traban asked her as she just nodded dumbly.

"Alright, now what did we learn?" Traban asked as he got in front of them like a teacher with 3rd graders, even thought they were in 8th.

"That the thing we all use is called the _Force_…" Ming said as if not wanting to at all. Traban nodded and patted her head like a good kid.

"That's right, sweetie. Even though that answer you said at lunch was close, it was still wrong, and Huey and I were right all along. Anyone else?" Traban said as he moved back to his teacher spot.

"There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force. Also, the old Jedi Code is _far_ better than the New Jedi Code." Huey said with closed eyes as he was engraving those words into his mind. Traban nodded sagely as he too thought the old code was much better than the new one, but the one Luke Skywalker made was okay.

"The Force is what gives a Jedi their power. It's the energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together." Jazmine said as Traban gave her thumbs up and a rainbow sticker. She giggled and placed it on her hand as Huey rolled his eyes. Traban was always acting like Jazmine was his kid sister… or an adorable four year-old child.

"There is no Light or Dark, but only the Force." Cindy said as Traban nodded. He turned to Riley as the braided haired boy scowled.

"All them niggas stupid, cuz they asses ain't see Anakin ass turning to the dark side over that broad, or the old-ass nigga was really the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious. Oh, and them damn lightsabers kick ass!" Riley said as they all looked at him. Traban and Huey gave a shrug, because it was mostly true and the lightsabers did kick ass.

"Well, it's good you all were paying attention. I had no doubts about Huey or Ming, but Riley; you actually were kinda right on what you said." Traban said as he looked at his friends.

"Yeah, whateva nigga, it was good. Now I see why yo nerd-ass be all on the computer read about shit like that." Riley said as he stretched out on the couch when Cindy got up to go to the bathroom.

"Hey, I might be a nerd, but I know just about anything you can think of. Do you have any clue how useful my nano-photographic memory is?" Traban said as he shrugged and sat down. Cindy came back in the room just as Huey was about to speak.

"Traban, do you still have that feeling?" Huey said cryptically as he locked gazes with Traban. Traban nodded and Huey stood in front of them with a more serious face than he always had.

"Alright, I didn't want to say anything about it before, but now that you all know that the power we've been using is the Force, I feel you all deserve to know this… Traban and I have been getting this weird feeling that soon and I mean _very_ soon, we'll be leaving. So I want you guys to go pack your things. I'll go with Jazmine, Riley I already packed all your stuff, but go see if I missed anything. Traban take Cindy to her house and help her pack. Ming, since you live with Traban; go and pack all your things until he gets back." Huey said with their eyes going wide.

"When you say 'all' our stuff, do you really mean _all_?" Cindy asked as she walked over to Traban. Ming didn't even bat an eyelash at her, as she knew they thought of each other as brother and sister. Huey nodded to the question.

"That's why Traban is going with you, little Miss 'I'm so rich I have _tons_ of _crap_ to pack'." Huey said childishly. Cindy rolled her eyes as she grabbed Traban's hand.

"You know what; you been hanging with Traban too damn long." Cindy said as Huey eyes went wide. He was about to retort, but Traban and Cindy blurred out of sight when Traban placed his two fingers to his forehead.

"Got damn _**Instant Transmission**_…" Huey mumbled in annoyance as he and Jazmine started walking out of the door.

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><p><em><strong>2 Hours Later, 3:20pm:<strong>_

The sun was up and shining out when Traban and Cindy appeared in the Freeman house. She was smiling ear to ear, but Traban looked like a hurricane hit him. He dropped to the floor as soon as they were on solid ground. Huey and Jazmine walked through the front door, and Huey didn't look much better. They looked at each other, and Huey fell to the floor as well.

"Sissies…" Cindy said as she and Jazmine went into the kitchen. Riley came down the stairs and looked over the railing.

"What the fuck happened ta ya'll niggas." Riley said curiously while they turned their heads to him as they answered at the same time, "Girls… clothes… shoes… other crap… next time… you…" They finished as they pointed at him. Riley swallowed hard in a gulp and jetted up stairs before they could say more of the horrors they endured. Traban got up and stretched as multiple bones cracked when he did so.

"Now, I gotta go help Ming put her some in hyper-capsules. Be right back, dude." Traban said as he used _**Instant Transmission**_ again. Huey stayed on the floor the entire time Traban was talking. He would've stayed there until Traban got back, but Jazmine came in and got him on the couch.

"It wasn't that bad, right? I mean, it was only my clothes, shoes, accessories, hair stuff, and all my other things. I wasn't like I took _everything_ from my room." Jazmine said as Huey slumped into her lap and looked up at her.

"The only things you didn't take were the furniture, and I'm _still_ surprised you didn't take that the way you kept debating with yourself about if you should take it or not." Huey said tiredly as Jazmine stroked his hair.

"Yeah I know, but I was thinking they'll be furniture where we're going, right? I mean; what kinda place doesn't have a bed to sleep on, or places to put your clothes?" Jazmine said, more to herself than Huey, who didn't care either way, since he fell asleep in her lap. Traban and Ming blurred into the living room and Huey woke up and sat up.

"Ming and I stopped by the lab since she had everything packed already. I got all our plans, blueprints, and everything else we might want or need for where ever we're going." Traban said with a serious face as Huey nodded.

"That feeling is getting stronger, almost like it's getting… closer." Huey said with Traban nodding as he and Ming sat on the other couch.

"I know, but if it's what I think it is, we'll be leaving before nightfall, so we'll just get some sleep." Traban said as Huey and stood up stretching.

"Right, because I need it. Jazmine and I'll be in my room. Riley and Cindy will take his room, and you two can take the guest room like always." Huey said as he walked to the stairs with them following close behind. Huey told Riley and Cindy what they talked about, so now everyone was in their rooms asleep.

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><p>They didn't even realize what was going on just outside of their galaxy. A small spaceship able to carry 20 people was flying across the Unknown Regions about to enter the Milky Way Galaxy. On it, were 2 being of the Force, and they were on a mission.<p>

"We're coming out of hyperspace, Master." The first said to the other as the ship came into normal view and speed.

"Good, we'll be able see them now. I can feel their strength in the Force from here. Set a course for the Unknown Planet #365 and be sure to stay the-" The other said in a deep voice, but was cut off when the ship started rocking as if being destroyed under blaster fire.

"What's going on?" the first asked as he started flipping switch while trying to keep the ship steady. The second was doing his best to stay in his seat. He looked out the windshield to see that they were passing through some blue-ish cloud thing.

"I don't know, maybe it's an automatic defense system of this galaxy!" The second said as the ship started to calm down when it had completely passed through the unknown cloud.

"Well at least it's over." The first said, as the second nodded.

"At least until we leave and need to go back through that… Plot the course and do a hyperjump, so we can be face to face with the six that we're going through all this trouble to see." The second said with the first nodding and doing as told.

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><p><strong><em>That's the first chapter, so I hope you guys liked it. The next will be along shortly, so please tell me what you think. Also, if you want certain people to appear in the story, then by all means just tell me.<em>**

**_Also, this story is apart of the B.W.H.S (Boondocks World Hoppers Series), but it is like the parallel to them. Don't worry, they meet up with each other at some point in time; even if it takes 1,000 years. Well then..._**

**_Until Next Time, See Ya!_**

**_-T.K_**


	2. Jedi, Ilum, and Jocasta

I OWN, ONLY WHAT I OWN…

All will be revealed in due time.

Be sure to review if you like my story.

_**Chapter 2: Jedi, Ilum, and Jocasta**_

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><p>It was 12:00am when Traban and Huey shot up out of their beds. They woke their girlfriends up and put their clothes on. Huey told Riley and Cindy to put their clothes on as Traban was cooking a quick meal for everyone.<p>

"Nigga, what's the rush? Yo ass any no crackhead, is ya?" Riley asked with a skeptic look. Huey just rushed past him, but not before giving Riley a slap to the side of his head. Huey walked into the kitchen to see Traban already done making pancakes and scrambled eggs.

"You felt it to, didn't you?" Huey asked as he helped pour orange juice in everyone's cups. Traban nodded as he filled the last cup.

"Yeah, it was like, whatever the feeling is just… came into range or something." Traban said unsurely as everyone entered the kitchen.

They ate in silence as Traban and Huey just kept gazing out the door. When they had finished Jazmine offered to wash the dishes with Ming. Traban went and stood outside as Huey went into the living room with Cindy and Riley. It was ten minutes later that a bright light filled the house from outside and Traban rushed into the house.

"Dudes, you've _gotta_ come see this." Traban said as his face was filled with awe and shock.

* * *

><p>They rushed after him as they piled outside of the house. Each of them stopped beside each other as they looked up at the sky to see… a spaceship. It wasn't as big as they thought it looked, because they knew it was smaller than some of the things they had seen in <em><strong>Star Wars<strong>_. The ship put out its landing legs as it prepared to land on the street in front of them.

"Damn, this like some shit out of _**Harry Potter**_!" Riley said, only to be smacked in the back of his head by Huey, but no one took their eyes off the ship for even a second.

"Wrong" Huey said.

"_**Naruto**_" Riley as Huey smacked him again.

"_**Bleach**_" another smack

"_**One Piece**_" another smack

"_**Kingdom Hearts**_ or _**Dragon Ball Z**_" another smack

"Close, but still wrong" Huey said as Riley didn't even bother rubbing his head. He was too preoccupied with gawking at the ship like the others.

Riley didn't get another attempt as the ship had landed on the street and opened its walk way thing. Traban couldn't remember what it was called as he and the others watched two people come from the ship walking straight toward them.

The first was a tall man dressed in Jedi robes with armor on the outside. He had blonde hair and blue eyes as he walked with a sense of calm, power, and control. They could feel the strength of the Force in him, but Traban and Huey were able to sense that he was of the light side of the Force. Huey and Traban sighed in relief that a Jedi got to them, instead of the Sith.

It was the second person the others couldn't take their eyes off. They could tell he was male, but they weren't too sure. He had a snake-like body with four arms and four eyes. Traban and Huey didn't pay much mind to the appearance as they tried to narrow down which time they were from. Riley and the other though, we're staring at the man with wide eyes, almost gawking at him. Huey cleared his throat loudly to stop them from starring as the pair was in front of them.

"Well look at this, Master Gormo; they were expecting us. It seems they were as strong in the Force as you and Master Rotuno believed." The blonde man said to the alien man.

"Yes, it would seem so… It took quite a while to find you all. This galaxy is clouded from the Force quite well. It took the combined efforts of all the Masters of the Council to locate this galaxy and this planet. Now that I'm close to all of you, it was worth the trouble. You're all so strong in the force already; it's amazing, since I don't sense any others of the Force on this planet. In fact you look like… but that means… Never mind, the Force is telling me not to reveal it to you, but for you to discover it on your own." The alien, whose name was Gormo, said to them. Traban and Huey smirked since they always did like Jedi.

"I'm sorry if I seem rude, but do you know a being by the name of Yoda?" Traban asked kindly and respectfully with a smile.

Huey's eyes shifted to the pair as he knew what Traban was doing. Since they didn't know what _**Star Wars**_ time period the 2 were from, asking about Yoda was a good indicator. If they didn't know Yoda, then that meant he wasn't born or trained yet. If they talked about him in present tense, then it was somewhere in the 800 years Yoda is a legendary Jedi. If they talked about him in past tense, then Yoda is dead and they were a part of Luke Skywalker's new Jedi Order. Huey and Traban waited for their answer as they were judging what would happen for each occurrence.

"Yoda… you mean that youngling I taught when he crashed on my planet? He's to begin at the Jedi Academy in 2 weeks-… How do you know about him?" Master Gormo asked as his 4 eyes narrowed at Traban who didn't seem fazed at all. Traban just kept smiling and closed his eyes as he shrugged.

"Something in the Force told me to ask about him." Traban lied with ease. The pair of Jedi didn't know he was lying, but Huey did.

It was only because Huey knew Traban's tells for when he lied. Traban's smile was faked the whole time, and he closed his eyes like Gin Ichimaru from Bleach when he lied. Huey had to thank Traban for handling that, because he wouldn't have thought of Yoda. Maybe Dooku, Mace Windu, or Obi-Wan, but not Yoda right away.

The Jedi pair looked to one another, and accepted that Traban was telling the truth. They were never ones to question the Force, so why start now. Master Gormo turned around as he and the other Jedi started heading to the ship.

"Come along children as we have much traveling to do. It's a good thing this ship has a hyperdrive… Oh, and the names Kota, Takken Kota, Jedi Knight" The blonde haired man, named Kota, said as he followed Gormo.

* * *

><p>They followed him; as when they woke up Traban and Huey had all of them place their hyper-capsules in their pockets first. They got on the ship as they looked around at the blinking lights and wonders of the technology. Riley and the girls were taking in the sights while it was ascending into the sky and then space. Traban and Huey went into the back of the hanger as they talked about what they discovered.<p>

"So, Yoda hasn't even become a Padawan yet." Huey said as he leaned against the metallic wall. Traban sat down on a metal crate as they were talking.

"Yes, and that might prove beneficial to us in the long run. We may not live as long as he does, but if we can get him the information on the future then it'll be worth it." Traban said seriously. Huey was almost the only person who ever saw Traban's serious side, outside of troubling situations. Huey nodded to at hearing his words.

"You're right, but we may live as long as he does, you never know… Anyways we need to talk about our Jedi training." Huey said as he narrowed his eyes. Traban sighed as he rested his arms in his laps.

"Well, thanks to those videos and those books we had, you and I are as skilled as Jedi Masters in the force. Riley and the girls are at about Knight-level, but those are by our standards. We don't know how real Jedi measure skill in the Force." Traban said as he took up a meditative pose with Huey doing the same as he sat on another crate.

"Besides our skills in the Force, the only things we lack are: lightsabers and experience. The lightsabers we'll be able to build ourselves, but the experience comes with a price." Huey said with closed eyes as Traban nodded with his eyes closed, but he could feel Huey's emotions on the unspoken subject.

"Don't worry, dude; Yoda was trained as a Padawan under the Oldest Jedi Code. It was still around when he was a Jedi Master 100 years later, so we're fine. That code said nothing about emotions, or about relationships, only that the Force is your ally, along with your fellow Jedi, but also your only _true_ master." Traban said as Huey became calm afterward.

"Good, because I couldn't live without Jazmine, she's… she's _everything_ to me." Huey said quietly, but Traban heard him. Traban knew Huey wasn't the type to admit his emotions easily, but Huey trusted him enough to actually do it around him. They were as close as brothers.

"You already know how I feel about Ming. I'll join the dark side and kidnap her, if it means we can be together." Traban said as Huey nodded, thinking the same exact thing.

"Remember the old code; there is no light or dark, only the Force, but we both know that's a lie." Huey said as they chuckled.

They knew that the dark side of the Force was nothing more than a person who was evil, but not all who fell to the dark side were evil, for some were just misguided.

Jazmine and Ming came over to them as they got up from their meditative states.

"They say we need to strap ourselves in to the chairs, because we have to go through some kind of space thingy." Jazmine said as Huey sighed. They all strapped themselves in as Gormo and Kota started pressing multiple buttons, turning knobs, and flipping switches. Huey and Traban gazed at, what looked like, the exit to the Milky Way Galaxy. It was breath taking.

"Brace for impact!" Kota yelled to them as they clutched the sides of their seats.

As they reached the thing they found so beautiful, the ship started shaking and swaying like a roller coast at _**Disney World**_. Huey looked calm on the outside, but all of them could tell he was thee seconds from throwing up. Riley almost did as his face was as green as Emerald City from the _**Wizard of Oz**_. Ming appeared to not even notice, but Traban felt a sleep in his chair as his body was being tossed about in the chair. Jazmine looked scared as hell as she was about to call for her mommy, but Huey put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a comforting squeeze. Cindy didn't look any better than Riley as the ship stopped shaking.

Traban woke up and they were told it was safe to walk around. Huey and the others went to a large window and looked out. They could see their galaxy; the Milky Way. It was truly a sight which was indescribable. _**(Go to my page to see the Milky Way as they see it.)**_ Master Gormo said something about hyperspace as the world outside became stretched and then like a tunnel of blue streaks and lights.

They all turned to him as he addressed them, but Riley did so reluctantly, muttering, "This is what crack much be like…"

"Alright now that we're hyperspace it'll take three days to reach the Jedi temple on Ilum. It's the closest Jedi-only planet to this star system, so you'll be going to the temple there. Even though you're all more in tune with the Force than most Padawans, you'll still go there for a few years to get a real education of the Force and all things Jedi." Gormo said as they nodded. Kota spun in his pilot seat so he could see them.

"You might want to get some much warmer clothes than those on to. Ilum is one of the coldest planets in its system. So, go to the door to the left and get those thermo-suits. They'll keep you as warm as summer." Kota said as they got up and changed into the suits one by one in the room.

"Good, now while we're in hyperspace I'll teach you a few things" Gormo said as he had them sit in a circle on the floor around him.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Three Days Later:<strong>_

On the first day Gormo found out that they knew more than most of the Basics, so he taught them the different types of uses for the Force. Since they had only ever practiced a few Force techniques it was a good thing. Huey told Gormo that they only practiced things that helped them stay in touch with the Force, so he said that once on Ilum they would practice that and much more.

Gormo taught them Force healing and Force telekinetic techniques. Jazmine was the best in Force healing with Ming right behind her. The others were only average in it. In Force telekinesis Traban and Huey were the best, with the others only being average. Gormo said that this was because everyone was better at something than another, but to never be arrogant in their abilities. He had them practice their techniques for the rest of the time.

When the ship came out of hyperdrive as they said it, Huey and the others saw Ilum. It looked like a grayish Earth. They could see it would be cold on the planet just from looking at it.

"Ilum was first discovered around 2,000 years ago when a Jedi who was navigating hyperspace, while in the Force, felt a strong pull deep from the Unknown Regions. Following it, the scout had found a world rich in Force-strong crystals. The mystique of the discovery added it to the ceremony of lightsaber construction." Kota said with Gormo continuing where he left off.

"After establishing a Temple over the Crystal Caves, Ilum became a place of great importance, as sacred as Ossus and Tython. The temple served as a shelter and place of ritual for the Jedi who traveled here. To ensure the security of the planet and the crystals, the planet had been left off starcharts. One uninterrupted hyperjump from Metellos would deliver a ship into Ilum's orbit, and could only be accomplished by a Force-sensitive person." Master Gormo told them as if it were history class. They took in the information as the ship came into the atmosphere of the planet and zoomed to a large structure built into a cavern wall above a cave.

"Welcome to Ilum" Kota said as a hanger-bay door opened at the temple and allowed them inside. Kota when to talk to the Temple's Council before they when anywhere inside the temple, and came back ten minutes later. He then started to lead them onward.

There wasn't much to look at in the hanger, but once they entered the temple they saw a lot. Aliens of different ages and species would pass them, without the slightest care of who they were. The halls and rooms were crafted beautifully as if it were a museum.

"Wow, this place makes the Grand Temple on our world look like crap…" Traban said with the other five nodding. They soon reached a room that was, as Huey and Traban thought, a classroom. Gormo didn't let them go inside, but merely let them look instead.

"This will be where you are instructed. Now follow Knight Kota, as he will lead you to your rooms." Gormo said as he slithered, to wherever he was going. They followed Kota until they came upon two rooms.

"Now, we of the Jedi Order have no problem with relationships and such, but… girls in _this_ room and boys in _that_ one." Kota said firmly as he pointed to the rooms as he indicated which gender belonged in which. They just nodded when he gave them a stern look. He sighed in relief and then got eye-level with them.

"From this day on you may never see me again, but that doesn't mean a thing. Live long, be mindful, and follow the code and yada, yada, yada… Listen just do what's right and follow the code as it is and you'll be fine. You start you're lessons tomorrow… See ya!" Kota said as he walked away from them. Huey shrugged as he looked over to his side.

* * *

><p>Traban had already started down the hallway.<p>

"Where are you going?" Huey asked with a raised eyebrow, but had a pretty good idea of where Traban would be headed. It was the same place Traban headed when he was in a new place, like when he had moved to Woodcrest. Traban turned to Huey as he gave his answer.

"The library, I want to know as much as I can, as fast as I can, and I don't need these fools around here belittling me for my now lack of knowledge." Traban said curtly as he started to walk again, but with a faster pace.

Huey nodded as he started to follow. Jazmine and Cindy went into the room to the left, which was designated the girl's room. Riley went into the boy's room, but Ming followed after Traban and Huey.

After Traban had asked one of the Jedi to direct them to the library they found it with relative ease. Ming caught up to them when Traban had stopped for the directions. The library wasn't like the ones they were familiar with. Instead of books, or even DVDs, there were these plasma screens which projected everything. Traban, Huey, and even Ming tried to read them, but they were in strange alien symbols, so they went to the librarian for help.

"Excuse us Madam Librarian, but we're new to this planet, and cannot understand the language. Could you help us find a way around that until we are capable of such?" Traban explained, while trying not to seem pushy or stupid.

The librarian was turned in her seat with the high part of the back facing them. Traban hated being less knowledgeable, but Huey assured him, almost jokingly, that Traban would know everything in the library before the year ended. Huey, himself, wanted to start as well, and so did Ming. When the chair turned around it was a small girl, she looked to be around the same age as them. She smiled as she came from around the desk.

"I see someone is eager for knowledge. I am Jocasta Nu, and I'm not the librarian here… but I wanna be! I start my Jedi training tomorrow with the newest recruits, so I'm guesting you guys will be in my class. I'm going to become a Madam of the Archives just like my grandma, Syrian Nu!" the young girl told them. Traban smiled as he knew she would accomplish her dream and more. Ming nodded and Huey gave her a slight smile with his bored and neutral face.

"Well then, what do you know about this library Jocasta, because I have a feeling this is the start of a long, beautiful, and grand friendship…" Traban trailed off as he slung an arm around her shoulder, smiled and walked off with the girl, leaving behind a sighing Huey and a pissed off Ming.

They spent the whole day and some of the night in the library. They were reading books, which they could understand, discussing Jedi things, and talking about their lives. It turned out that Jocasta had come from a remote planet on the other side of the galaxy. Traban told her where they were from and they started talking about their planets.

* * *

><p>After about the first three hours in the library Jazmine, Cindy and Riley came in to join them. Riley said it was only because of boredom, and lack of knowing others; to which they all knew was true. In that one day they had gotten to know Jocasta Nu very well and Traban called her his friend, or in his exact words: Book Buddy Friend! Jocasta nearly cried as she said she had never had a friend, but knew what they were. Traban grew a bit sad at this as memories of his early childhood came to mind.<p>

"Don't worry, for you'll always have a friend in me!" Traban said with Huey rolling his eyes, but agreeing with Traban like the others.

Jocasta was overcome with happiness at their acceptance. She jumped up from her seat and hugged him as she cried on his thermo-suit. Kota had told them that once in the temple it wouldn't be needed, but outside it would. Traban kept it on, because it made him look cool. Ming looked a bit pissed off again, but didn't do anything. Traban, being shocked by the action, brought his arms around her and patted her back like a father consoling his daughter. Jazmine sighed happily as she remembered him doing the same for her, Cindy, and Ming when they needed a shoulder to cry on. He'd be a big brother to Jocasta too, but that'd be all if Ming had anything to say about it.

After a few minutes she stopped and all of them were forced to go to their rooms by a Jedi, who told them it was curfew. Traban hated curfews with a fiery passion, and protested against it as he was dragged back to their rooms by Ming and Huey. They found that Jocasta was only two doors down to the left from them and they saw a very young looking Yoda enter the room next to them on the right. Traban and Huey looked at Yoda enter the room while smirking at one another; this was going to be… interesting.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Okay, I know it's not very much right now, but it'll get better and clearer in the chapters to come. Also, I'd like to thank you all for even sticking with it this far since most of my other ideas don't get too much attention. Oh well...<span>**

**Until Next Time, See Ya!**

**-T.K**


	3. The Truth and Padawan

All will be revealed in due time.

Be sure to review if you like my story.

_**Chapter 3: The Truth and Padawan**_

* * *

><p>Huey and the others were awoken by a loud beeping noise which came from the speaker in the corner of their bedroom. Riley rolled over cursing at it while Traban and Huey got dressed.<p>

"Shut that fuckin' thing _up_! I'm tryin' to sleep, not have that loud-ass shit blarin' in my damn ears!" Riley exclaimed as he finally got out of bed and got dressed.

Instead of the thermo-suits they had come in they got dressed in the uniforms that were on their beds when they got there. The uniforms were tan or gray tunics and pants with brown leather boots and a belt. Traban and Huey had gotten tan tunics while Riley got a gray one. He didn't complain, or maybe he didn't notice. They walked out of their room to see the girls, and every other kid, standing in front of their room doors.

"They said not to go anywhere, because a Jedi master will be accompanying us to get us tested, and then we go to our classrooms from there." Jocasta said as she was in front her door. Huey looked the other way, and saw Yoda sitting against his door, humming a strange tune.

"See, that little green nigga got the right idea, I like him already. Who knows how long our asses go have to wait here for them." Riley said as he sat against their door. Traban and Huey just shook their heads.

"Think like me, you do. Stand for hours, I plan not. Sit, hum, and sleep, I do." Yoda said with Riley nodding.

"See, the little green nigga smarter than all y'all asses. What's yo name, my new green midget homie?" Riley asked with a smile as he found someone who he could relate to.

"My name, you ask? Yoda, it is. Green midget, you call me? Judge me by my size, you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is." Yoda said to Riley who laughed at him, but was smiling all the same.

"I hear ya nigga, these 2 been telling me that kinda shit for months now!" Riley said with Yoda nodding in agreement.

"Take to their words to heart, you should. Learned the Force from Master Gormo, I did. Become good friends, I have a feeling we will. Hmm…" Yoda trailed off as he laid his head against the door and drifted off to sleep, with Riley doing the same.

Huey and Traban turned to one another as they gazed at the two.

"Did you ever think Yoda would be like… _that_ as a kid?" Traban asked Huey as he gestured to the now snoring Yoda.

"No, but as long as I never share a room with him and that damn snoring I don't care." Huey said as he leaned against the door. Traban leaned against it as well.

* * *

><p>It was a full 30 minutes until a Jedi came to get them. Traban woke up Yoda using the Force as Huey woke Riley with a kick to his leg. Both of them stood at attention like the others did when they saw the female Jedi Master.<p>

"Hello, Younglings, I am Nomi Sunrider. I will be taking you all to get your tests done. There is no reason to be afraid as these are just simple check-ups and a blood test to get your midi-chlorian count." She said kindly for all of them to hear.

She gestured for them to follow her and so they did. Soon they arrived outside, what she said was the med-lab. It was like a doctor's office, but way bigger; almost like a miniature hospital. The students went in ten by ten to have one of the Jedi Healers give them their tests. When it was their turn they all went in, but Traban and Huey did so with Ming and Jazmine pulling them in.

"Come on, stop being children, they're not going to hurt you." Ming said as she dragged Traban with Jazmine dragging Huey right on side of them.

"Huey, how can you always talk about starting revolutions, when you can't even get a check-up?" Jazmine said as she dragged her boyfriend.

"I don't care what you say, hospitals are evil, and belong in the dark-side." Traban said as he tried to cling to anything, to stop him from going to the abomination that was a doctor, healer, whatever.

"He's right, and I don't need a check-up, because there's nothing right with me. Now, let me go." Huey said as he waved his arms frantically to stop her from bringing him to the demon that was a healer.

"You two are being childish and causing a scene." Ming said with Jazmine nodding.

"So, we don't care, and we wouldn't be causing a scene if you just let us the hell go." Traban countered with Huey nodding in agreement. They were about to break away, but then they started floating in the air as one of the healers raised their hand, using the Force to hold them in the air.

"I'll handle them, girls. The Force is always useful in many situations." A female healer said as she walked up to the girls, still holding the boys in air with the Force.

Traban tried to run while still in the air, but it was to no avail. Huey sighed in defeat as Traban did, because they knew they were caught. '_Goddamn Force…_' they both thought as the healer levitated them over to her station as the girls went to other healers for their check-up. The healer dropped them on the bed, but still held them there with the Force as they tried to run.

"Now boys, my name is Maria Ti, the Head Jedi Healer, and you're going to sit there like good boys, or this simple check-up will get a _lot_ more complicated, understand?" she said with a kind smile that promised pain beyond their comprehension. They both nodded rapidly and she began the check-up.

It was going fairly well, until she pulled out two needles. They tried to run again, but she held them in place with the Force and took blood samples from both of them. She then entered the blood samples into a computer-like device and it started printing out results after a few minutes. When she read through the results her eyes bulged and her mouth dropped as she gazed at Traban and Huey, and then back at the paper.

"This can't be right… It must be a mistake… that race died out over nine years ago… you couldn't possibly be-" she was saying to herself as she kept looking from them to the paper. She was cut off when a male healer came running up to her and shouting her name.

"Maria, Maria! The boy I was testing, Riley Freeman, he's a…! I thought they died out, but his blood, it matches 98%!" the male healer said as he gazed from Maria to Riley, who was seating on the bed across the room from them with a scowl on his face.

"I know, he's the brother of this one, Huey Freeman, but what I don't understand is how?" She said in a calm and curious manner. Then male Jedi went back over to get Riley and bring him to her.

"Alright, we'll deal with this now, but we need Master Omnia to explain it to them. Boys, go get your friends and come with us." Maria told them as they got their girlfriends, Jocasta, and Yoda.

* * *

><p>All of them followed the two Jedi to a room high in a tower. Maria and the male Jedi went in first and came out ten minutes later to tell them to come in. When they when entered the room they found twelve Jedi gazing at them interest and shock.<p>

"Hello, Younglings, we are the Jedi High Council, and we have a few things to tell you." A man with an oval shaped head said. They nodded and a man who was old with gray hair stood up.

"I am Jedi Master Hugo Omnia and I will tell you why you're here. You see you three boys are not from the planet in which you believe." Hugo said while pointing at Traban, Huey, and Riley. The boys' eyes widened as they were shocked by the revelation. Traban was the first to get over his shock.

"If we're not from Earth, then where are we from?" Traban asked, thinking this was something straight from _**Dragon Ball Z**_ or _**Superman**_.

"You are from a planet which was devoid of life for almost nine years now. We had thought all the people of that planet were dead when it was attacked, but it seems some survived…" Hugo trailed off, but shook his head of his thoughts.

"Anyways, as I was saying, you are from a race of humans we thought to be long since dead. You three boys are Celestials, and are from the planet Andromeda. It was in the Messier 31 sector, or known to your people, the _**Andromeda Galaxy**_. It was the only planet in that galaxy. The planet and ruins are still there, because no one but the Celestials could touch anything of importance. Your race was thought to be completely wiped out by the Sith in the Galactic War nine years ago. You children may just be the last of your race." Hugo said as Huey and Traban looked deep in thought, but Riley and the others were still in shock.

"How did we end up on Earth?" Huey asked with Traban nodding as Huey asked the question.

"Well from what we were told by Master Maria, when she read your blood test and we dug up your family tree, your parents were James, Seri, and Sierra Tousen Freeman of the Royal Celestial family. Your grandparents were Robert and Darryl Freeman. They must have escaped the planet and landed on Earth." Hugo said with the other Jedi nodding in agreement.

"Alright, instead of hearing the stuff we can find in the archives, can you tell us the main points we need to know?" Traban said with Huey nodding. The Jedi looked to one another and nodded to Hugo as he sighed.

"Very well, you three are royalty, the last of your race, and are immortal." Hugo said with Traban and Huey's eyes going wider than be for.

"You've got be kiddin' me…" Huey and Traban said in unison as Hugo shook his head.

"No, I'm not; you three are brothers from the same father as well. Your people were different from other humans, because they possessed immortality from birth. Not one of the Celestials of your home planet appeared to be older than 18, 21, or 25, when in actuality; they were over ten thousand years-old. That was why the Sith used the _**Star Forge**_ of old to wipe out your race. The Royal Family was talking about have their newborn children join the Jedi and start it as a tradition. Their first-born son had been born that year and they could tell he was strong in the Force. I'm guessing you can tell where the tale goes from there, so which one of you is the oldest?" Hugo asked with Traban raising his hand, because he was almost a full three months older than Huey.

"I am, but I'm three months older than Huey, so it makes no sense for us to be brothers." Traban said in a rational way, as Hugo shook his head.

"I said the same father, _not_ the same mother. Your mother was Sierra Tousen, the sister of their mother. Sorry I didn't really clarify that earlier." Hugo said as Traban and the others tried to wrap their heads around the idea.

"Those girls are most likely from the same planet as well since their blood is 35% the same as yours. They'll have the same immortality from even 1% of Celestial blood. I'm guessing that they're parents were most likely slaves or normal civilians." Hugo said as he pointed to the girls in the room, even Jocasta. Jazmine nearly fainted if it wasn't for the fact she wanted to hear more.

"But, Master Omnia, I didn't come from Earth, I was on Typhon on the other side of the galaxy." Jocasta said a bit sadden she was mistakenly picked.

"No, it says that your blood is 35% that of the Celestials, so you mostly were brought there to live in secret as an orphan. This was probably done to keep you alive from hunters where you would be made a sex slave to breed more Celestials. You are very lucky you lived on that remote world where the people didn't think much of you." Hugo said as she brightened up at being immortal with friends, but paled at the thought she could have been made a sex slave if they hadn't ignored her when she was there.

"Well, now what? I mean, it's not going to change anything if we're Celestials or not, right?" Traban asked, but Hugo shook his head. He was always shaking his damn head.

"Actually it means and changes a lot. You'll still be Jedi and everything, but we need to let the universe know that the Celestial race hasn't died out. Since you're the oldest, Traban, you're king of your race. When you're of age, you and your brothers will need to take multiple wives to rebuild your race. They young ladies here will be your first wives, but you'll need more." Hugo said with none of them objecting, although Traban and Huey narrowed their eyes.

"Also, your Jedi training will go a lot better because of your immortality. This means that your train won't need to be rushed and can be far more through. I'm not saying that you have to spend centuries as a Padawan, or anything, but maybe spend some time on your own after becoming a Jedi Knight and follow the Force where ever it may lead you." Another Council member said as he stood. Traban narrowed his eyes even more, but nodded all the same.

"That all fine and good, but I have a few conditions if this is to happen." Traban said glancing at Huey, who nodded in return.

"What are they?" Hugo asked as the others in the room listened intently to Traban.

"The first is that we do as we please and not the Jedi Council or the Republic can interfere with our choices. I mean, we're not going to the dark side or anything, but if these organizations have control, of _any_ level, over us they'd use it, for their own gain. Second is that we only follow the Jedi Code of now and not another. I like the code as it is, and if it were changed we'd be very displeased to adopt new beliefs. Third is that we're able to return to our home planet. It would give us a familiar place to meditate on the Force and increase our abilities, because our world was so out of touch with it. Fourth and last, we're the ones who choose our wives and when the universe knows of the still existence of our race. I would hate for one, or all us, to be killed because we were still Padawan and a Sith Lord came to kill us. " Traban stated as the Jedi Council members discussed it amongst themselves for ten minutes, but agreed to it all the same.

"We accept those conditions, but we'd like some insurance that you'll stay with the Order, or at least not join the Sith. We'd like for you eight children to stay together, at least until Padawanship. We'd also like for you to at least hear the Council and others out on matters, and help us in war times. Also, if in the event you do leave the Order, for whatever reason, we'd like you to not help our enemies and rejoin the Order if you'd like. Lastly, we want you all to have life-time seats on the council, when you become Jedi Masters, so that your wisdom over the years will be heard." An old female alien member of the council said.

"We'll agree to them, but we also want immunity, in the case something escalates out of control or anything. Also, that we don't have to speak, or vote in council matters should we not want to and that others, of our choosing, can fill our seats on the council should we not be using them." Huey said with the masters nodding.

"That is acceptable. You may go now, and may the Force be with you, younglings." Said a young alien male seated next to Hugo. They left out and all the council members' faces turned serious and thoughtful.

"So, do you believe they'll stay with us? I don't want to treat them like pieces on a game board, but I don't want them to join the Sith. With immortal Sith Lords who will be as powerful as I foresaw them becoming as Jedi, I fear for the future of the Order if they grow to hate it." Hugo asked his fellow council members. The old female three seats to his left nodded.

"Yes, I believe they'll stay. They seem to have buried their excitement of being Jedi so they could speak seriously and clear their thoughts. They won't join the dark side unless they have a very good reason to, and if that's the case I won't blame them, nor condemn them. They'll be powerful Jedi in the near future. I can already sense the Force in them. It's almost as if it's bending to their will." The old female said as the others nodded.

"Indeed, but let's watch and wait to see if they are as great as the future foretells." The young male next to Hugo said.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Two Years Later:<strong>_

Watch and wait was exactly what the Jedi Masters did. In only two years those eight younglings had grown in the Jedi ways by leaps and bounds. They had all accomplished what some couldn't do in their entire lives. Traban and Huey were the best of all of them. The two worked harder than anyone else and it showed. They were top of their class and with only two years of training. Now it was time for them to do what they needed to become full-fledge Jedi.

**With the Gang:**

They stood in the front line; which were eight across with fives lines. They had trained long and hard but the two years with their fellow Younglings had proven they were amongst friends. Huey looked over the others behind him. He and the rest of the Younglings were all wearing the same uniform, gray robes and tunics. The robes kept their heat in, which was essential due to their Jedi Temple's location: **Ilum**.

Huey and the others quickly found out Ilum was covered in ice; not a single piece of vegetation to be found. But their studies revealed it to be a key planet, with its plentiful Force Crystals made this planet invaluable to the Jedi Order. They had trained in the freezing temperatures outside the Jedi Temple, and it wasn't pleasant. But it did drill some very deep discipline and self-control lessons into them, even if Riley didn't show them.

Traban took a deep breath, breathing in the recycled, manufactured air. The planet as a whole wasn't as big as other planets, and had to maintain strong artificial atmosphere. There was an enormous factory on the planet with many redundant, smaller ones, all around the planet that converted different gases into oxygen, so they could breathe. These were the only providers of air and the stabilizers of the atmosphere.

The Jedi Master in front of their group was talking about how proud she was to have trained them, and how hopeful she was for each of their futures, but she also reminded them that the Jedi way was a life of selflessness and the embodiment of peace. Traban and Huey weren't listening much, but at least pretended they were. Cindy had to slap Riley and Yoda in the back of their heads a few dozen times to get them to at least pretend to care.

"… and today, you finally start your trials to become Padawans. Later, with further training and study, I hope you may even become Jedi Knights or Masters yourselves. Your trials all start with the building of your own unique lightsabers. I know this is a change in method, but here on Ilum we have decided that the building of your own lightsaber before becoming a Padawan was much more important. We believe that if you succeed on this challenge, your training under your own Master will make you more attuned with your lightsaber, and your connection with the Force even stronger." The Jedi instructor stopped, and gazed around the group of forty younglings, all about to take on their destiny.

"And always remember; the crystal is the heart of the blade. The heart is the crystal of the Jedi. The Jedi is the crystal of the Force. The Force is the blade of the heart. All are intertwined: the crystal, the blade, the Jedi. You are all one." The Jedi Instructor told them firmly. Those words sunk into the minds of the first line, and their meaning was infinite. They knew those words were the truth, and were something they'd have to remember always. Even Riley and Yoda paid special attention when she had said those words.

She then stepped aside, revealing a door she had been standing in front of. Traban and Huey noticed it, but the others were a bit shocked it was there.

"In this room, you will find all that you'll need to construct your lightsaber hilt and more, but it is up to you to bring these pieces together and form your desired weapon. Let the Force guide you, and you can't go wrong." She said and with that, she turned and walked away, leaving them to file inside the room to begin their Padawan trials.

* * *

><p>Upon entering the room, they observed the many worktables and rows of shelves against the walls holding the electronics that were to be used. Huey made his way to the nearest free worktable, and examined the few scarps of metal and wiring that were left on the table. Traban went toward the back of the room, probably letting the Force guide him wherever. The others scattered as they entered the room and Huey lost sight of them.<p>

It was over the next few hours, objects zoomed across the large room by way of the Force. Each Youngling was trained in mechanics and the fine art of making small, efficient electronics, but further studies of these crafts were always encouraged when they had free time. Traban had poured over many books over the two years, just to prepare for this day. He would be building the weapon that would be his most valuable tool for the rest of his life. He didn't want to screw it up!

As he worked, he noticed that others must have studied for this day as well, including Jocasta and Yoda. Traban found himself looking at Riley, who was working quickly and masterfully on his own lightsaber, and Traban quickly began focusing on his own invention. He had started with a metal cylinder, and had cut it into shape. He had found many bits of scrap and new materials that could be useful.

* * *

><p>As the Jazmine worked, her lightsaber began to slowly form in her mind of its own accord. When the picture and blue prints of the weapon were laid out in her head, she was easily able to find the parts and materials she needed to construct it. She was sure to give the power chamber enough space for the Force Crystals she would no doubt have to find after the lightsaber's construction.<p>

* * *

><p>It came as no surprise to Cindy when Traban left the room first, with his one saber hilt clutched to his belt. It was a work of art, and it made her jealous. It looked as if it had not been built, but grown together as if the material it was made of was always a part of each other. Cindy had no doubt it had been made with his precision and accuracy with the Force. She was glad her big brother-in-law was able to make such a masterful weapon. Soon after, Huey and Yoda left the room with sporty looking hilts, one for each. She had thought Huey would use two, but apparently, she was wrong. After some others left the room she had finished and walked with Jazmine, Jocasta, and Ming.<p>

* * *

><p>Riley soon finished his, and was satisfied with it. It was long enough to be wielded by both hands easily, but not so long as to be a burden. It had a magnetic clip on it that would attach to his utility belt, when it was given to him upon becoming a Padawan. The magnetic clip could be enabled or disabled by his unique Force technique, which would make it impossible to be removed from his belt by any other than himself. Also, he made sure the metal he used was of the strongest he could find, and he was confident that only another lightsaber could destroy his weapon. Yeah, his shit was bad-ass, niggas!<p>

* * *

><p>Traban, Huey, and the others were waiting for him. He wasn't the last to leave, but he wasn't in the first ten. As soon as he left the room, they were told to leave the Temple immediately, with only a small pack of food and supplies to aid them. When the packs were given to them, they walked out into the freezing cold through the Temple's front entrance. They flipped their hoods on, and walked through the massive, reinforced gates that protected the Jedi base. Since the Temple was mounted against a large ice mountain, it was partially hidden, and well protected by the natural elements of the planet.<p>

Riley breathed in the cold, manufactured air slowly, bringing upon a strong self-discipline that would sustain him until he got to a Crystal cave. It took over an hour of walking in the freezing wind, but they counted themselves lucky that it was not snowing. Riley was so glad for that. Do you have _any_ idea what snow can do to you when it's already -20 degrees outside?

As soon as they entered the cave, they felt the difference. Without the wind cutting into them, it was much warmer. Then they noticed that it was warmer than it should have been for an ice cave, and made their way deeper into it. After a while they split up, going wherever the Force whispered to them.

* * *

><p>Huey soon saw a soft glowing in the distance, and he found the Force crystals. They glowed with either soft blue or bright green. Huey scowled in disappointment. He knew this planet was known only to produce blue and green crystals, but he thought he would get lucky and find a different color. He shrugged, and kept trying.<p>

He let the Force guide him deeper into the cave, to the crystals that were to be his. He finally reached a small room that branched off from the main cave, and he entered it. He didn't see any crystals, but if he was guided here, he knew the Force would not have led him wrong. So, having nothing better to do, he meditated.

And so it went, for the next five hours, he sat in the small, warm room and meditated. As he did so, he felt the energy slowly leave him, seeping into the ice below him.

"H-hello, is someone there?" A faint and innocent girl voice came, making Huey's head jerk around to where it was coming from. He let his hood down, and saw in his peripheral vision a shadowed figure. He kinda wished he had completed his lightsaber now.

"Who's there?" Huey asked calmly, now opening his eyes. He could see a soft, dark blue glow emanating from the ice below him.

"Huey? I... I just saw a light and thought I would investigate... I'll leave, if that is what you want." She said stepping closer, and Huey could see her face now. She had a look of hope and also a tinge of pink in her cheeks. He couldn't tell if it was from the cold of the outside starting to wear off, or if it was from her being alone with him.

He turned his head to in-front himself so it wasn't strained back any more, and studied the glowing coming from beneath him.

"It is fine if you stay; I've just been meditating here, all by myself. Plus, you know you don't have to ask, I always want y-you by my side…" Huey said a bit nervously as he kept his voice plain and his eyes on the crystal.

Jazmine walked into the room, and stood in front of him. She took her hood down, and sat cross-legged on side of him. She gave him a small smile, and Huey saw the blush on her face. He smirked on the inside. Yup, he's still got it!

"I found my crystals, already. Not much color to choose from, but Traban found me a pink one for my own unique lightsaber, and because he knew I love the color pink. I saw you meditating, and thought from the glow that you had your own crystals too... but I don't see any." Jazmine said as she gave him a questioning look. Huey shrugged in indifference, and then pointed below him.

"I was guided here, and after meditating, I seemed to have given my crystals a bit of charge. I plan to retrieve them when I finish. And if you hadn't come here, I wouldn't have noticed the glow until later, so thanks." Huey said as he began meditating again, channeling the Force underneath him, to his hidden crystals. But he kept his eyes on Jazmine.

"Do you mind if I meditate here, as well? I still haven't charged mine..." She said with a flash of that hopeful look again. Huey had to fight mentally to hide the smirk that was threatening to appear. He gave her a curt nod, and he told her it was fine. He caught the small sigh of relief, before she regained her composure. She was always shy or nervous alone with him after they discovered the truth.

* * *

><p>For the next few hours, they sat and talked, while channeling that mysterious life energy into their crystals. Having been trained to become Jedi, not being off the planet, or out of the temple, they didn't have much else to talk about. So they exchanged knowledge of the Force, and talked about some lightsaber moves. This went on and on until Huey brought up Jazmine's parents.<p>

"You do know your parents would be pissed to find out you're going to be married to me when we become Padawans, right?" Huey said as she fidgeted nervously.

"Y-yeah, but they're not here, and I haven't seen them in two whole years, so they can't say anything." She said back, her confidence rising with each word. Huey wondered, just briefly, who she was trying to convince: him or her. Then he remembered his Jazmine, it was _definitely_ herself she was trying to convince.

They soon became hungry, and each took out their packs and had a light meal of dried out meat and ration bars that were made for nutrients, not taste. Jazmine had told him that Traban and the others were staying in the cave until they found all the crystals the Force wanted them to, so they'd be in the cave a few days.

A few more hours of meditation after their meal and they decided it was time to sleep. Before becoming unconscious, Huey thought about how lucky he was that Jazmine found him, in this lonely cave.

He knew that there was plenty of Younglings out there that may not have even found a Crystal cave, because he could feel cold air drifting down the cave, and see some snow flittering around. A blizzard must have come about since he entered, and the cold alone could freeze someone as they walked. After a few more moments, he curled himself up above the soft, golden glow coming from beneath him, and sleep took him.

* * *

><p>They spent the next day in that room, meditating on the energy to power their crystals. They talked sometimes, made small jokes to lighten the mood, but mostly it was silent, and the focus was intense.<p>

When they finally felt that the crystals were finished, they stood up and stretched. Jazmine began placing her crystals in her hilt, to complete the lightsaber; Huey pulled an ice pick from his small survival pack. He began picking away the ice, until he came upon some dark bright blue gems. He delicately picked them from the ice, and stood up to examine the find. They were warm to the touch, so he had to wonder why the crystals didn't melt the ice. He asked Jazmine about them, but someone else answered as they and others came in the small cave.

"Because you are Force sensitive it's not that the gems are warm, but you feel it as the Force in a palpable form." Traban answered as the others of their clan entered the cave. Their clan was the younglings they grew up closest with. The clan was: Huey, Jazmine, Traban, Ming, Riley, Cindy, Yoda, and Jocasta.

Huey accepted Traban's answer as he quickly began assimilating the gems into his own hilt. When it was complete, he gave Jazmine a slight and small triumphant smile.

"Together?" he asked.

"Together."

They activated their individual lightsabers at the same time, and the bright beams slid out easily. Huey's shone a bright dark blue, bordering black, and this pleased him somewhat. For all these years, he had thought he would have a lightsaber just like most other Jedi. But now... he felt his lightsaber was unique. He waved the light-blade around a bit, and the sound it made pleased his ears. He looked over at Jazmine's, and saw her own lightsaber to be of a cotton candy pink color, the same as she liked. She slashed with it a few times and did a few twirls, pretending to be hacking away at an enemy. Traban chuckled at her as he clapped for them.

Satisfied, they both retracted their light-blades, and faced the others.

"Now that y'all niggas done, can we _please_ get the fuck up outta this cave? I'm freezing my nuts off in this bitch." Riley said calmly, but still like himself while shivering and closing his robes around him for warmth. Cindy slapped him in the back of his head for being rude.

"Right, Riley is. Cold as a bitch, this cave is. Go now, I hope we do." Yoda said shivering as Cindy slapped him too.

* * *

><p>They all left the cave silently to make their way back to the Jedi Temple. Upon their arrival, they noticed that they were the last ones to come back. Traban and Huey shrugged as they didn't care.<p>

Their teacher of the last two years looked pleased, and gave them a slight nod in a direction; telling them to get their asses in line. They were relieved to see that about 25 of their fellow Younglings made it back. But still, those others were still friends they had known for two years. The teacher came in front of them with a smile on her as she spoke.

"You will now be picked to be a Padawan. Remember that each of these Jedi Masters has reviewed all of your files, and it is not mandatory for them to choose you. Now that you are ready, any of you may be picked today, but just as many may not." He turned to the Jedi Masters, and gave a nod, then left. The Jedi Masters walked up and down the line in no specific order, and slowly the Younglings were taken away.

* * *

><p>It was then that a young woman walked up to Huey and Traban with sway in her hips. Ming, and even Jazmine, glared at her as she was purposely trying to be flirtatious. Riley was staring, as was Yoda and all the other male Younglings. Cindy smacked Riley, but when she was about to slap Yoda, a girl, who was exactly like Yoda, except with long brown hair in a ponytail, did it for her. Cindy remembered the girl; her name was Yaddle, and she and Yoda had something going on.<p>

The Jedi Master sashaying her way up to Huey and Traban had light brown, pupil-less eyes. Her violet hair was done up in a short, somewhat spiky ponytail. She was wearing tan Jedi robes, complete with a fitted mesh body suit that stretched from her neck down to her thighs. She had a dark tan mini-skirt, as well as a small pendant that looks like a snake fang on a thick cord rather than a chain, to prevent it from being easily torn off in combat, and shin guards. She also had on a dark brown utility belt around her waist that has a sash. She had a tattoo, or a mark, at the center of her left shoulder, which took the appearance of three tomes encircling each other.

Huey raised an eyebrow to her, but Traban didn't even bat an eyelash at her as he stared at her with narrowed eyes. The young lady chuckled as she gave him a wink. Ming and Jazmine nearly Force Pushed everyone to the walls if it wasn't for their Jedi training to control their emotions. Cindy, watching things closely, then knew what Traban and Huey did; that this woman was judging them by playing games to see who could control themselves.

"Seeing as how all the other male younglings couldn't keep themselves under control in my presence, I'd say you two are formidable Younglings to hold such composure. A few of them even got raging a hard-on." She said with a smirk as she got in their faces.

Their only betrayal of bewilderment was a slight widening of their eyes, and the fact they had to fight to control their laughter. Huey and Traban could see that she was testing their control again, and they definitely did not want to fail this test. Finally, she gave him a welcoming grin and walked behind them, giving them a rough pat on their backs.

"Lighten up, you're now my Padawans and I don't like stiffs!" she exclaimed as Traban's knees almost caved in relief, but he gave his new Master a smile while Huey and he bowed to her.

"Thank you, Master...?" they said as one, but trailed off as they didn't know her name.

"Anko, but you may call me Master Tao. And now, here are your utility belts. Congratulations on passing." She said as she presented them with the metallic belts.

They clipped it around their waists, underneath their robes and around their slightly baggy tunics. Huey looked to his right, and saw Jazmine, with a look of sadness about her face. In this enormous galaxy, they knew they'd be apart, but it hurt her, and secretly him, all the same.

It was then he saw Master Maria Ti, the Head Jedi Healer of Ilum, walk up to Jazmine with purpose.

"Jazmine, I've had my eye on you for quite some time now. I've been impressed with your training, and even more so by your lightsaber. So of course, I must have you as my Padawan! You would be perfect as a Jedi Healer here with me! Plus, after your training is complete, you would have to travel with _certain_ Jedi; to be sure he doesn't get _too_ hurt and that you could heal him." Maria said with Jazmine's eyes widened slightly, as her face showed recognition.

Jazmine glanced at Huey, who was actually smiling at her, making gestures that told her to accept, so she did. Jazmine had only ever seen Huey smile ten times in all the four years she's known him, and those didn't last too long, so if he was smiling and wanted her to do something, she'd do it without a moment's hesitation, unless it was mean or evil, then she'd hesitate.

Traban gazed around as he watched his family or clan get their Jedi Masters. Yoda and Yaddle were taken on by Master Gormo who had been watching them for some time. Riley and Cindy were taken on by Master Kota who liked their spunk. Ming and Jocasta were taken on by Master Sunrider as she liked the way they handled themselves.

Traban smiled warmly at his family as he and Huey were lead toward the temple's hanger to visit other planets and train in the Force, lightsabers, and all things Jedi.

They knew they'd see them all again, but the true question was: _**when**_?


	4. After All These Years

Ages as of Now:

Huey, Traban, Ming, Jazmine, and Jocasta: 20

Riley, Cindy: 18

Yoda, Yaddle: 17

All will be revealed in due time.

Be sure to review if you like my story.

_**Chapter 4: After All These Years**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Seven years later:<strong>_

They were meeting again for the first time in seven years since. Huey was sure they had all changed under their Masters, but he and Traban had stayed the same. It felt like only yesterday did he watch them walk off with their Masters. He wondered just how much they had changed.

Huey thought back to Master Anko Tao, their Jedi Master. Anko Tao was a thing all in herself. She's easygoing, tomboyish, stubborn, and sometimes hyperactive, but despite portraying several bad Jedi habits, she has shown to be very knowledgeable and studious when she was training them. She also made sure to regularly have at least basic knowledge of the landscape for which their next mission would take place, so Huey _had_ to call her prepared as well.

However, she also had a bloodthirsty side, literally. When she lost her lightsaber for a week, she used a low-grade plasma sword to train them. She cut Traban's arm with it, and actually licked his blood from it. She said it came from her time with Orochi Hebi, her Jedi Master

Even though she was crazy and sadistic, she trained them well. She said they could have become Jedi Knights three years ago, if they wanted to, but they choose the stay Padawans until they learned everything she had to teach. They had just completed their final lesson she had to teach them, when they got the hologram from Master Gormo that they were all to meet on Ilum to see each other. Now they were in hyperspace getting there.

Huey sighed as he looked into the mirror of his room aboard the _Hidden Snake_. It wasn't that he didn't like how he looked, it was just that he hadn't changed, but then he remembered he was Huey and didn't _care_. He was still the same; the only things that had changed were that he had gotten to his age height; six feet tall, and had a more muscular and firm body. He was wearing his tan tunic, pants, and brown boots. His utility belt now held three lightsabers, but he always used the one on his left side. It was the first he had ever made.

"Well, look at the sexy stud. Are you getting nervous, and don't lie, because I can feel it through the Force." Traban said from the open doorway.

Traban hadn't changed ever. He got taller, same height as Huey. He got more tone and muscular, but didn't think much of it. Unlike Huey, he only had a large afro once, and he immediately combined it back and ponytailed his hair. He even got rid of his glasses as he said the Force would help him see, and so it did. He wore the same his tan tunic. Unlike Huey, Traban only had two lightsabers on his belt. The first and his most used being his first created.

Both of them had the mark of a Padawan; the small braid behind their right ear. They hated the damn thing, but accepted it all the same. It was kind of funny how people based their skills off their rank, and when they proved them wrong their jaws would hit the floor. It made Master Tao so proud.

"Not now, I don't even know what to say to her. How are you going to handle Ming and Jocasta?" Huey said in his normal neutral tone, but Traban, having known him for 11 years, could hear the frustration in it.

"Like I do ever thing else; with charm and grace." Traban said charmingly with a grace bow of flamboyance.

Huey just rolled his eyes as he knew Traban had charm and grace, but he was a moron with it at all the wrong times. Like when they had been on that all Amazon women planet. Now that was a Jedi Trial of Skill, Courage, Flesh, Spirit, and Insight, because he and Traban needed all those just not to be raped or killed by the women. Their Master had just sat there and let the women try to have their way with them. Master Anko had only said one thing the whole time they were fighting for their lives and their virginity. She said, "Leave some for me!" and that was it.

"Listen Huey, I have the advice that'll settle all your worries, even if you don't outwardly show them." Traban said as he came into the room from the doorway.

"Oh yeah, and what is that?" Huey asked skeptically with a raised eyebrow. Traban always did have some way to make things better, maybe he would now.

"Put your lips together like this and kiss." Traban said with a slight goofy French accent as he demonstrated with his hands. Huey's eye twitched as he knew his big brother was trying to help, but…

Traban was Force Pushed from the room and into a wall as Huey's room door slid close. Traban looked up in time to see a grin on Huey's face before the door was completely closed. Traban dusted off his clothes as he whistled a merry tone, making his way to the bridge of the ship. He could feel through the Force that Huey was a lot calmer and less nervous now that annoyance and mirth were taking hold of his mind.

* * *

><p><strong>When They Reached Ilum:<strong>

They had finally reached Ilum. They landed the ship in the hanger deck and made their way into the temple. A fellow Jedi saw them and bowed as he came up to them.

"Hello Masters, The others have arrived already and some of them have taken their tests before the Council already. I would hurry to the Council's tower if I were you." The young Jedi said as they nodded their thanks and quickened their pace.

They made it to the Council room of Ilum and went inside. There they saw three of their clan: Cindy, Yoda, and Jocasta. Yaddle was there as well, but she wasn't considered part of the clan until she married Yoda.

Cindy had grown into a beautiful young woman. She was of average height for 18. Her blonde hair was still in two braids, but was now at her waist. She was sexy, in every opinion of the word. She had curves in all the right places. Her tunic was the same as theirs. She had two lightsabers on her belt. If Traban remembered correctly, which he always did, the one on her right hip was her original.

Jocasta had grown beautiful as well. She was a few inches shorter than Traban. Her gray hair still in the same style it had always been. She was like Cindy, but had the same original lightsaber from seven years ago. Traban figured it was mostly because she wasn't a fighter and that when she became a Jedi Master she was going to became Mistress of the Jedi Archives on Coruscant.

Yoda and Yaddle were still exactly the same as when they last saw them; short, green, and funny looking.

It was then they realized none of them had their Padawan braids; which meant that they had missed them pass their trails. Traban hugged each of them, but Huey just gave them all a nod of acknowledgment.

* * *

><p>It was then a door to the side of the room opened and Riley stepped out, looking drained. Huey and Traban could only wonder what Jedi Trails their little brother faced while in whatever room he was in. Riley was still the same, braids, attitude, and all. He was just taller and more tone with muscles. He wore his tunic, but the sleeves were… burned off, and still smoking. He had his original lightsaber in his hand, the glowing of the green blade illuminating his face.<p>

"Ahh, young Riley, you have completed your trails, yes?" a council member Huey and Traban hadn't see last time nine years ago said with a slight smirk. The man looked kind of Frenchmen-like to Traban, and he was pretty sure he'd remember a French-lookin' Jedi if he ever saw one. Riley just nodded to the Council as he stood in the center of the room.

Riley knelt in front the Council as Master Hugo Omnia stood from his center chair and ignited his golden lightsaber. He did a knighting gesture over Riley's shoulders. Then with a quick, fluid, and graceful flick of his saber hand, served the Padawan braid at the side of Riley's ear, without touching Riley in the slightest.

"Now, rise up, Jedi Knight Riley Freeman and may the Force be with you." Hugo said as Riley stood up and bowed to the Council before making his way over to the others.

"What's good niggas? Where y'all asses been, I was the last one. Should've known y'all niggas show up for the best." Riley said with a smirk as Traban gave him a brotherly hug and Huey gave a lazy wave of his hand.

"Glad we got to see at least one. Sorry, we're late, but we were in another galaxy, so we couldn't get here any faster than hyperspace." Traban said as he smiled at his little brother.

"Uh huh, well, time to get yo asses in that Hell hole, see and deal with weird shit like all the rest of us." Riley said as he pointed to a door opposite the one he came from. Traban just shook his head.

"Sorry Riley, but we're already Knight-level and faced our trails three years ago. We just wanted to learn more and wait for you dudes." Traban said as he and Huey walked past Riley, who was so dumb-struck he missed them getting knighted.

* * *

><p>The doors to the Council room opened to show Jazmine, and Ming walking in with the Jedi Masters. Traban and Huey couldn't take their eyes off of them as they walked in.<p>

Traban was staring at his new Asian Goddess. Her hair was long and had a healthy shine to it. Her walk held power and grace. She was a few inches shorter than him. She had curves that made him wish he had done what he told Huey nine years ago, back in _Chapter 2_. She wore the same Jedi tunic as all of them, but it didn't look the same on her the way it looked on her. She was the same, but not at all, and Traban couldn't think of a think other than her right now.

Huey was having similar effects of _'Damn, my girlfriend's hot'_ disease. She still had that untamable hair of her pulled back into two puffballs. She had curves so illustrious that a model would die of jealousy. Other than that, she was basically the same. She was about four inches shorter than him. Her eyes were still full of sweet innocence, but now they held power and grace behind them. She walked lady a proper lady, as if she was of great royalty, but Huey could see the grace and elegance behind it. He could see she was ready for anything. Huey's mind drew a blink on anything, but her right now.

The two girls in question were in the same boat as them. Traban and Huey had really grown up in their eyes. They always thought the two boys, now _men_ were cute, but now they were handsome. They stood there with calm power in their eyes. They gazed deeply into the eyes of their first loves, with the other doing the same. When the girls finally reached them they had all processed nothing more than the stunning appearance of their other halves.

"Hey…" Traban said quietly, in what Ming thought was a sexy deep whisper, but Traban only said it how he normally did.

"Hey…" She said back, and Traban wanted to melt from the soft sexiness of her voice.

Huey couldn't think about anything other than Jazmine. Then a thought hit him. It was retarded, stupid, and crazy as all hell, but it was the only think he could think of. So he would run with it.

He wrapped his arms around Jazmine's waist and pressed their bodies together. Her entire face went red right then. He put his lips but a mere centimeter from hers as he told her the only thing he could think of.

"Put your lips together like this and kiss" Huey said as he did just that.

He slammed his lips on to her lips. He felt her recoil back, but only in surprise. She tilted her face so her lips would be centered with his. He felt her lashes graze his face, indicating she had shut her eyes. Wait when did he shut his? His mind was on fire and he felt himself become lighter, but he hardly noticed it though. All he could seem to focus on was how soft her lips were. He wondered if that made him crazy. After what seemed like an eternity, Jazmine broke the kiss and blinked bashfully at him. When his eyes opened and they made contact with hers, they both were red faced.

"Well, that was something…" Cindy said as she stood next to Riley. Huey looked around the room to see everyone wide eyed, but Traban as he was giving thumbs up and a huge smile.

"See, I told you it'd solve all your worries!" Traban exclaimed as he did a victory sign and dance.

Traban then grabbed Ming and started to kiss the surprised girl, now woman with a fiery passion. Ming's eyes widened, but closed as she started kissing him back.

"Well, it's a good thing we made out before they got here… just _look_ at them!" Cindy said as she pointed to Traban and Ming, who were slowing making out toward the door.

It was then Maria Ti and Kota used the Force to separate them.

"I think that's enough for today, don't you agree?" Maria said as she and Kota set them back on their feet.

"Sorry, Masters…" Ming and Traban said at the same time. Ming was actually apologetic, but Traban was more reluctant with his. They ruined his 'fun time' with Ming, so he deserved to be mad.

* * *

><p>The Council members then told them of their first mission as Jedi Knights. It was to bring in a dark Jedi and to negotiate the planet the Jedi was on to come into the Republic. Traban wanted to object, but Huey beat him in saying they'd have it done.<p>

"…and it's most appreciated. Remember: this is a conjoined mission of the 8 of you. Yoda and Yaddle will go do missions from Coruscant from here; the rest of you will take missions whenever you please. Be safe, and may the Force be with you." Hugo said as they all bowed to the Council.

"And with you as well" they all said as they left the room. Anko was waiting for them along with the other Jedi Masters that had trained them. They congratulated them on becoming Knights and told them of all the changes in the rank, but they only half-heartedly listened. It was then Anko tossed something at Traban, which he caught easily. It appeared to be… keys? When Traban gave her a questioning look, she smirked as she walked off.

"A present to you, Huey, and the others, but since Huey can't fly a ship for crap, you keep it, Traban. It'll be the only ship in the hanger bay when you get there." Anko Tao said as she and the other Jedi Masters reached the elevator for the tower. Traban smiled fondly at her, and tightened his grip on the keys. He'd be sure to take good care of their gift.

"Hey, I don't _suck_ at it, I just _hate_ flying!" Huey yelled at the elevator, but all he got in return was his now _former_ Master was her laughing at him as the elevator went down.

When they reached the docking bay, or hanger, she was right; there was only one ship in the whole hanger.

It was a Republic transport-class ship. It had a pair of folding wings around a large round cockpit. In front of the round cockpit of the vehicle was a cloaking device which was capable of creating an invisibility field which could sneak through even the most advanced of security technologies and allowing its master to evade pursuit while on his missions.

"Well, what do we name it?" Huey asked as Traban gazed at the ship.

"_**The Falcon**_" Traban said with them nodding to the name.

* * *

><p>They all got inside as Riley whistled at the new technology the ship had. Yoda and the others seemed interested in it as well, but Traban took the pilot seat immediately and told them to sit down. Before they knew it they were already out of the atmosphere of Ilum. Traban was flipping switches and pushed buttons when they were all looking out the windshield.<p>

"Prepare for a hyperjump straight to Kushibah." Traban said with them strapping themselves in when the ship started to enter hyperspace.

"Dangerous, our mission is. Use caution, we must." Yoda said as he started to meditate on the Force. Yaddle nodded as she did the same.

"It's just a group of four dark Jedi, so it shouldn't be that hard. Huey and I took down a couple when we were with Master Tao." Traban said without looking back at them as he was navigating hyperspace. Huey nodded from his passenger seat while going over the navi-computer with Traban.

"What, all we did was holding the peace on Dantoonie and studying in the Jedi Enclave there. That was the furthest we been too! Where y'all niggas been?" Riley said as the others listened in. Traban and Huey shrugged.

"We've been all over the universe, but we've always gone back to our roots. Anyways, we've been to Kushibah and dealt with dark Jedi before, so no need to worry." Traban said in a reassuring voice to them. They calmed some, but still had fears.

"Just remember what your masters taught you, and you'll live." Huey said as he was getting annoyed with their fear. It was noticeable in the Force, and if he could notice it, then so could the dark Jedi. The others let go of their fear and embraced courage. Riley smirked as they were coming out of hyperspace in front of a planet that looked rich in vegetation.

"Alright, let's fuck these niggas up!" Riley proclaimed as they descended on to the planet.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Some Time Later:<strong>_

Riley was the first to reach the central room in the dark Jedi hideout. There he saw three of them flee to another door while one stayed to stall him. Riley narrowed his eyes, but he knew Traban and Huey would be waiting on the other side for the other three dark Jedi.

The dark Jedi had run ever since they found them with the Force and now the chase was over. This dark Jedi was a small man; about as old as Master Kota, who was now in his 50's. He wore purple robes and had only one lightsaber.

Without a word, the dark Jedi's lightsaber leapt to his hand and sprang to life, glowing a calm blue. Riley activated his own lightsaber, which was green. The two Jedi began to circle one another, and as they moved, Riley was calling on all the lessons Master Kota had drilled into his head.

"You can't win, young knight; my wisdom in the Force and skill with a saber far surpasses your own. If you give up now, then I promise to make your death as swift as possible." The old man said with Riley about to curse him out, but quickly remembered that Jedi needed to be calm. The words of the Dark Jedi drilled into his head though; making him feel a little woozy, but Riley didn't let that show on the outside.

Riley waited patiently, determined not to make the first move. His concentration was set upon the man before him, yet a small bit of his mind began to wonder where his team was. "_Where the fuck is Cindy and Yoda asses_?" He decided to stall for time.

"Look man, just put down your weapon and come peacefully. I promise you'll be tried fairly in the Republic's court." Riley said as he really didn't want to kill the man, but he also wanted to kill _someone_ with his damn lightsaber.

A snort of laughter escaped the old man, but instead of replying, he attacked. The man covered the distance between Riley and himself in an instant, and the two lightsabers clashed together violently. Riley managed to knock the man's blade away and instant later, the blue lightsaber arced upwards on Riley's left, and he barely managed to parry. As soon as this happen old man spun and attacked Riley viciously. The sounds of the two lightsabers clashing together filled their ears, and Riley had no chance to go on the offensive.

Riley Force jumped backwards, on to the balcony above, when the old man came at him with a horizontal slash. Riley smirked as he now had the high ground. But that didn't matter, because the old man jumped high above him a second later.

"Damn old nigga, you can jump." Riley said in disbelief as the old man gave a smirk and rushed him.

The two energy blades collided again and again as they dueled up close. Riley gave the old man a small grin; he obviously didn't know who Riley was trained by. Riley allowed the Force to fill him. It came along with a massive rush of adrenaline; Riley became completely intertwined with the Force. He let his instincts take control along with the Force.

With a new found strength, Riley's green blade lashed out, taking the offensive. He drove the old man back, slashing in a pattern that eventually made the old man realize a flaw in his attack method. Taking the false opening, the old man parried Riley's saber and struck out with his blue one only to be met with a powerful Force push that Riley put most of his strength in.

Riley gasped for air as his opponent was sent speeding through open space, crashing into a wall twenty feet away. He didn't drop his guard for a moment, but allowed his body to rest a bit. This old man was obliviously on par with a Jedi Master, much like Master Kota.

A deep chuckle filled the air, and Riley groaned.

"Aww shit…" Riley said as he raised his blade to fight round three.

"My boy, you're better than I would have thought. I'll let you know the name of the one who kills you here: I am Grant Dacha." The old man, named Grant said roughly as he stood, seemingly unhurt.

Riley remembered that Masters could use the Force to cushion the impact of things. Then Riley saw a dramatic change in the man's demeanor. He became serious, and Riley felt a wave of fury ripple through the Force around them.

"Now let's see how _you_ like being tossed around like a rag doll!" Grant exclaimed as he outstretched his hand toward Riley in a single thrust motion.

Before Riley could stop it, he was hurled from the balcony, and was headed face first to the floor on the level below. Riley did not flinch, and did not close his eyes, but he did know that if he hit that it would hurt like a bitch. He reached out with the Force and encompassed himself in it. Though his momentum was great, he thought he might be able to make it less painful if he softened it enough, but if not; goddamn it was going to hurt!

And just before impact, he felt even more of the Force fold around him and stop him a few inches from the floor. A look of surprise flashed across his face, and a scream of fury emanated from the Dark Jedi above. Riley turned his head to the entrance of the room, and found Cindy, with Yoda standing behind her. They came just in time to stop him from being in a tube for four days, like he was last time.

"Where the fuck y'all been?" Riley asked loudly in annoyance, but his appreciation and gratitude flooded his connection with the Force, and Cindy nodded in acceptance of his non-verbal thanks. He was released from her hold, and he made sure to flip himself over to his feet. As he fell, he had deactivated his lightsaber. He now flicked it back on, and turned to face grant.

"Give up now, you can't take on all three of us." Cindy said, letting no emotion be revealed in her voice. She was answered with a slew of insults and curses. Riley saw Cindy and Yoda activate their lightsabers. The three Jedi stood side by side; Riley with his normal green lightsaber on his left, Cindy with her cerulean blue colored lightsaber beside Riley on his right, and Yoda with his deep earth green blade beside Cindy.

Grant stood at the top of the balcony, seemingly weighing his situation, but with a cocky grin, he deactivated his lightsaber and turned around. The hidden door the other three had escaped into slid open and he stepped through. It slid shut with a hiss behind him. Instantly, the three Jedi Knights were up the steps, then through the door after opening it with the Force.

They found themselves in a hangar that took up the rest of the building's levels. Ships of different varieties were on the landing pad, and some were parked along the wall, as if on display. They spotted Grant hopping in to a small, sleek ship that they were quite sure had Hyperdrive capabilities. Before they could do anything Traban and Huey came from the sides of the hanger. They smirked at seeing the two, because that meant one thing: ambush.

They deactivated their lightsabers as they watched Traban and Huey zip across the room from opposite ends with a speed they wished they had. Before Grant could even start up the engines, the landing gear was slashed by Huey's saber and the engines destroyed by Traban crushing them with the Force. They whistled at the way they effective destroyed the ship beyond repair. The two oldest of their clan had made short work of the expensive looking ship. Within a few seconds, it was unfit to even hover. The transparent hatch popped open, and they saw Traban outstretch his left hand, and lift Grant's body out of the ship with the Force. The man's lightsaber was flung far across the hangar, back to where they were, and Riley caught it.

A shrill cry of pain and hate pierced the air as Traban placed a small device on Grant's chest. The device quickly silenced him from his ear splitting screams. They quickly made it over to the two as Traban was checking the device. He looked up at them and gave them a smile.

"Mission complete" Huey said as he gave them a small smirk. Riley grinned back, as Cindy and Yoda smiled.

Traban then motioned Riley and Yoda to follow him as he told them where the other three were being kept.

* * *

><p>Huey took out and opened a holo-comlink. After a minute an image of Jazmine popped up from his transmitter. She gave him a smile as he gave her back a slight one.<p>

"So, how did getting the dark Jedi go?" Jazmine asked with Huey showing her the body of the last one. Her image nodded and flickered due to it only being an image.

"How did the diplomatic go?" Huey asked with a small smirk at her frustrated sigh. He always hated having to deal with senators and diplomats, just like Traban.

"It was tough, but they agreed to the Republic's terms for saving their planet from the dark Jedi." Jazmine said with relief in her voice as Huey nodded.

"You did well, if it had been me or Traban we might have screwed it up, but thank the Force you were here." Huey said to relax her about how well she did, but that didn't mean he lied either.

She gave him a bashful smile as the holo-link closed. Huey looked back to see that Traban and the others were ready to go, all of them carrying or dragging one of the dark Jedi

"So, what we do with these niggas anyway?" Riley asked as Huey took the dark Jedi from Cindy and carried the man with the Force like Traban, Riley, and Yoda were doing. She smiled at him and followed them out of the hanger and building as they made their way back to the others.

"Their dangerous criminals and we need get them to Coruscant for a fair and unbiased trail…" Huey trailed off, his eyes gazing down at the paralyzed men, then at the lightsaber in Riley's hand.

"Anyways, as long as those devices are on their chests, they'll be paralyzed." Traban said as he didn't even mention the dark Jedi's lightsaber, so Riley assumed he didn't care if he kept it or not.

Traban walked in front with the man floating beside him. Riley then activated the blue lightsaber, and then he activated his own green one. He spun the lightsabers at his sides for moment and deactivated them as he placed them on his sides.

"Well that's a mission well done, so let's get to the ship and see what else needs to be done. Jazmine, Ming and Yaddle are already at the ship, so let's go." Huey said as he glanced at Riley's new lightsaber.

Traban placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled as he and the others walked to the ship.

All things would be okay so long as they had each other…


	5. Some Things Never Change

Ages as of Now:

Huey, Traban, Ming, Jazmine, and Jocasta: 820

Riley, Cindy: 818

Yoda, Yaddle: 817

All will be revealed in due time.

Be sure to review if you like my story.

_**Chapter 5: Some Things Never Change**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>800 years later:<strong>_

Coruscant, considered the crown jewel of the galaxy for hundreds to thousands of centuries. The planet has been the base of operations for the Republic and the Jedi Order for over millennia. If one were to enter orbit of this worldwide city, they'd encounter thousands of spaceships and hovercars, ranging in all sizes and shapes; from every part of the galaxy.

Suddenly appearing out of hyperspace, a Republic-class Cruiser, having many dents, scorch marks, and patch jobs hobbled into regular space to make it's descend on to the planet. Jedi Master Huey Freeman looked at the now smoldering remains of his control panel with a look of pure irritation. The damn thing just blew up right as he was entering light-speed, and from there it was a two hour hell-ride filled with near misses and one damn disaster after the next. This was why after eight hundred years he still hated flying.

He allowed the ship's emergency systems to kick in, putting the controls on autopilot before heading to the main hold where he accessed the remaining systems from the control panel there.

"It's times like this that I miss the _Hidden Snake_; such a reliable little ship it was." Huey thought aloud with a sigh at old memories. He shook his head of his thoughts as he focused on the now, which was the ship that was falling apart with him in it.

"From the looks of this diagnostic, this ship will not last much longer. If I can't get to the temple soon, I may need to land somewhere and conduct repairs to this piece of crap. Otherwise, she'll literally fall apart at the steel plated seams. The next jump to light-speed would tear this thing apart like Cindy against that Rancor who ate Riley 178 years ago. Damn, I have a good memory." Huey said as he tried to touch the panel, but it sparked at his touch and burned him.

He decided to just go wait in his room when he passed a mirror on the ship and sighed. She hadn't aged a day in the last eight hundred and four years.

"Not even the masters knew that being a Celestial meant me looking like this forever. I thought I'd at least look eighteen." Huey said aloud to himself as he let his hand graze his cheek while the ship shake and things were falling. He really should check that system now…

After checking the systems, mainly navigation, he saw his ship was in the orbit of Coruscant.

"Finally, thank the Force for small favors." He said as he turned to pack his things and get the hell off the metal death trap that was his ship.

It had taken him some time to find a useable ship out beyond the Outer Rim, where he was, and unfortunately; this one had been the best he could find. Seriously, the others were almost literal piles of scrap metal, and were beyond even his ability to repair. As it was, this one had been barely salvageable, but he had managed with the things he had picked up over his lifetime. He had been on that planet for almost six years, and now the Force was calling him back to the known galaxy, to make his return to the Jedi Temple of Coruscant.

"And who am I to question the will of the Force." Huey remarked sarcastically in a voice that was to be a ridicule of his former master, Anko Tao. The woman had drilled that into his head since he didn't like where the Force had dragged him most of the time. Even now it was still true, because he damn well didn't want to be at the Jedi Temple he was going to.

Shaking his head again of his thoughts he realized that he had been doing his packing subconsciously. He shrugged as he had found himself on auto-pilot a lot over the years. He slung his bag over his shoulder and walked to the cockpit of his ship. After taking a minute to survey the various noises, smoking pieces, and sparking and exploding things, he sighed in exhaustion.

"Alright so, the main control panel is shot to hell, which means I'll need to jury-rig it just enough for me to land." He said as he turned around and crossed his arms, "and then the hyper-drive; It was puffing out smoke worse than Riley on a Hutt-control world, and shaking more violently than Jazmine when she caught that illness on Shidar. I hope when I made the last jump it wasn't the last jump."

He sighed heavily as he went to work on his tasks. He used the Force to stop himself from get hurt or exploded on as he hot-wired his ship. He saw that some of the systems were back on but there were only two that he really needed; the landing gear and the radio. He quickly grabbed the com-link as more sparks and explosions went off on his ship.

Activating the communication array, he grimaced as several hundred years of old feedback squealed through his left her ears before it cleared up.

"Jedi Temple, this is Cruiser 7071994 requesting immediate emergency landing clearance and perhaps a medical team on standby. I repeat; this is Cruiser 7071994 requesting immediate landing clearance." Huey said into the thing while rolling his eyes. He was gonna land whether they liked it or not. All he really wanted was the medical team.

There was a brief pause, during which the transmission was relayed to the tower. Then a female voice came back to him, probably one of Cindy and Riley's kids.

"Freighter 7071994, this is Jedi Temple Control, say again?" She said as Huey rolled his eyes again; definitely one of Cindy and Riley's kids.

"Listen kid, I have a busted up ship and it'll probably explode, so I need those bay doors opened now. This ship isn't going to hold together much longer." Huey said while transmitting his codes, and was surprised to see the temple bay doors opening.

"Clearance granted 7071994; I will send an emergency medevac team to meet you at the landing bay, if you so need them."

"I guess they never got around to removing my codes from the docking lists." Huey said aloud to himself as brought the ship in while it groaning as he shut off all commands except the landing gear.

* * *

><p>The hanger was nearly deserted, and he thanked the Force for that as he ship came into it. He heard the landing gear groan and squeal in protest as it skidded across the hanger floor while he was still powering the systems down, watching them spark and flicker before dying altogether. The ship finally stopped… but not before exploding while he was at the top of the boarding ramp. He went flying across the room and was stopped in the middle of the air by a Jedi Healer using the Force.<p>

He sighed as he was finally released from the medical bay and able to walk the temple. He basically tip-toed around as he looked for the person he had come here for.

"A moment please." Huey heard as he froze in place and turned to see several Jedi, who just screamed Jedi Council members by the looks of them.

"Yes, a moment, if you will. A few questions have we, about your security codes." Yoda said as he gave a smirk while Huey narrowed his eyes at him.

"_You little trog, you've been around Riley and Traban too damn much_." Huey thought as he sighed in defeat.

"I can answer a few, but I would like to check on my wife." He said with irritation evident in his voce, only to immediately noticing their reaction, which were faces of confusion, and some simply raising eyebrows in question.

"Identification, we need. The code you used to open the hanger, long unused has it been. Not used in three hundred years, it hasn't been here. How you know this code, puzzling it is." Yoda said as he rested his walking cane in front of himself.

"You know exactly who I am, you brat. My name is Huey Freeman, my rank is that of Jedi Master, and my Identification number is 07071994." Huey said as Yoda chuckled a bit, but said nothing as the one next to him entered the information as he had just said into a datapad.

"His identification confirms he's… wait a minute…" the bald black man next to Yoda said as his eyes widened, "Impossible! He left the Oder centuries ago, and yet… you look just like him."

"Yes, your records don't lie; I'm over eight hundred years-old. Yoda is about four years younger than me." Huey said with his own smirk as he gestured to Yoda, who gave a bow of his head.

"Now, if you do not mind, much the council has to ask you, old friend." Yoda said as Huey gave him a raised brow.

"After I've confirmed my wife's location, I will answer your questions. Sorry, old friend, if I come across as rude or harsh, but where my love is concerned, you know I don't have the patience to deal with things such as these." Huey said as he gave a slight bow to them and turned on heel, walking away from the group of bewildered Jedi, and one amused Yoda.

* * *

><p>"Married? Master, you told me we could not marry, or even have relations of that sort with another individual." Obi-Wan Kenobi asked, looking at his master Qui-Gon Jinn in shock. Had he been cheated, or just plain screwed over?<p>

"Master Freeman, sworn in the Old Code like I, he was. Rules and restrictions, changed they have, since he'd been here last." Yoda said, his eyes following the tan-robed man's journey to the Younglings classrooms.

"Freeman? As in the "_Boondock Code_" Freeman? Along with Tousen?" Obi-Wan asked as he recalled the history lessons he had learned as a Youngling while Mace Windu wordlessly handed Qui-Gon the datapad.

"Celestial?" Qui-Gon asked in surprise, seeing nothing but the word and a description of Huey displayed on the datapad.

"Wiped out _long ago_, they were. A terrible tragedy, indeed it was. Huey, the one of the last of his kind, he is. Along with Traban, Riley, Jazmine, Cindy, and Madam Jocasta, they were." Yoda said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"How long can they live?" Obi-Wan asked in mild curiosity, yet with plain and obvious confusion like the Masters around him.

"Unless slain indefinitely, immortal they are." Yoda said with his eyes closed and a nodded of his head. He exhaled deeply as he opened his eyes again, "Sith Lord Darth Bane, during his reign of terror, tried to end their existence, he did. As a child, Traban was born. Last of children, born to their home-world, he was. Parents relocated, they did. Found a plant out pass the Outer Rim to settle on, they did."

"You seem to know a lot about Master Freeman and his family, Grand Master Yoda. Care to share how you know or came upon all of this?" Qui Gon inquired as he peered up from the entry in the datapad with Yoda only chuckling.

"My ways, I have. Known them a long time, I have. Live as long as I do, and secrets, you uncover from friends. Revealed, it all is, with time." He said, hobbling off, leaving behind a bewildered Mace Windu, an amused Qui-Gon, a confused Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the charred parts of an exploded starship in the empty hanger.

* * *

><p>Huey sighed as he and Jazmine let each other go from their long-overdue grope and tongue action. Nearly twenty years without hearing a word from each other and as soon as he sees her it was full-blown makeout session.<p>

"So, you said you had something to tell me." Jazmine said as Huey nodded with a serious face.

"Yes… it's time. Traban is coming back as well, and Riley and Cindy are making their way from Ilum to here. They'll be here-"

"Now." Cindy said as she walked into the empty Youngling teaching room and hugged Jazmine. Riley came in behind her and dapped Huey off as the two watched their wives.

"Where are Traban and Ming?" Huey asked with a raised brow as Riley glanced at him from the corner of his eye.

"They got here before we did, and already left. Traban didn't even meet with anyone before he turned around and got the hell up outta here. He contacted me saying that he'd get reinstated on another planet, but Ming bringing his ass back here now." Riley said as Huey nodded.

"I think one of your kids work in the communication towers." Huey said as Riley shrugged with a less than pleased expression.

"I don't care really what they do for a living, so long as they're safe. Though, I'm _still_ surprised that immortality ended with our first born son and daughter. Cindy was crying her eyes out when we first heard the Medic tell us. I didn't even know Earth could change us _that_ much." Riley said as Huey nodded.

"Yeah, who would have thought that getting the _Chicken Pox_ would cancel out _immortality_?" Huey said as Riley and he looked at each other and shrugged.

It wasn't like they were having hundreds of kids anyway; the most any of them had so far was thirty children and that was over a span of eight hundred years. But, that didn't mean they didn't have 'fun time' almost all the time, or that they're kids didn't grow up to have kids of their own. Huey sighed as he remembered something.

"I suppose I should go before the council now that we'll all be here. If Traban gets here while I'm gone you know what to do…" Huey said lazily as he grabbed Jazmine, kissed her passionately and walked from the room like he _didn't_ just give her sexual tension.

He headed for the lift that would take him up to the council chambers, but then sighed a thought hit him. "_Some things_ _change,_ _while others stay the same." _Huey thought as the layout of the temple, and while it had grown much since he had last been here, the important things had remained the same still.

* * *

><p>Huey wanted to growl as he was made to wait to speak with the Council.<p>

"_Damn old bastards, making me wait like this… Oh, great example of the pot calling the kettle black. But still, they wanted to talk to me, but then they make me wait. I bet it's all Yoda's doing, since he knows what short patience I have for these kind of things."_

Huey leaned against the wall across from the chamber doors, arms crossed and right leg over his left with his finger tapping a metronome sound on his forearm.

He turned his head, and looked out upon the skyline of Coruscant. Not having to worry about a half-assed cruiser falling apart around him, he noticed a lot of buildings reaching further above the clouds, melding together with the ever present hovercar traffic in the skylines.

"_More people are here than three hundred years ago." _He thought before mentally face-palming himself, "_Of course there would be; you've been gone for so damn long."_ He thought as the doors to the Jedi Council room opened and he walked in.

He stood in the middle of the room with his hands behind his back before the entire Jedi Council. Huey introduced himself to them, before standing at full attention. He had been doing it all for so long that it only took about a minute for them to stop gawking at how fluent he had done it.

"Welcome before this council you are, old friend. At attention, you need not stand. Long has it been pondered, your fate. Nearly three hundred years, since last we saw each other, hmm?" Yoda said after the introductions had been done with.

Huey gave a formal bow to the council as while his head was down he rolled his eyes.

"To be completely honest, I did intend to return to deal with… things. I'm sure you've met with Riley and Cindy already. As you know we left due to… circumstances that were out of our control and I was forced to leave for far pass the Outer Rim." Huey said in complete monotone as the council gave him looks.

Yoda made a humming sound while Huey narrowed his eyes. He'd seen the same look on Yoda before, and Traban had always had that look on his face. He knew Yoda was already trying to think six moves ahead; too bad Traban and he were the wisest and smartest of all of them.

"Your wife, Jazmine, well she is?" Yoda asked with closed eyes and a smirk as the council turned back to Huey with shock filling the chamber as that small revelation hit the council members who hadn't witnessed his arrival to the temple.

"She's just fine. I find peace in the fact that she was quite pleased to see me after so long." Huey said with a bit of edge in his voice at some of the councils darker and disgusted looks; all the while thinking of how best to get Yoda back for that. He snapped his attention to the council as he saw several faces contorted in concentration, yet even more with frowns.

"If you're trying to scan my surface thoughts, that won't work." He said as some of them jolted, being startling out of their attempts to do so.

"Over the years, I've constructed several mental shields that not even the strongest masters of the mind arts can get pass." Huey said, while mentally adding, "_Yet Traban can get through them each and every time_!"

"What are your intentions now, Master Freeman?" A female master asked as Huey turned to the dark skinned woman as she spoke.

"I need to see the status of my vault, get a new ship, and then I was thinking of going around the known galaxy. You know, see how it's faired since last I was around." Huey said with a shrug as the woman frowned upon hearing him. Huey turned to look at the others and saw a Cerean Master scowling at him. Compared to _his_ scowl it was like a big cheesy smile.

"I know you may have been raised in the ways of the Old Code, but I do know, however, that the Jedi of your time were forbidden from having or forming such attachments as wives and the like." The man said as Huey dropped his blank face ad scowled at the man, making him flinch back. That's the power of a Freeman scowl; patented.

"Is that coming from you, _Cerean_? How many wives and children do _you_ have, Master… Mundi was it?" Huey said as the man nodded while shifting uncomfortable in his seat under Huey's stern gaze. He felt like a child under those dark maroon eyes…

Huey turned his attention to the council as a whole while Yoda closed his eyes once again. Mundi had pissed Huey off with that question, and the storm that was his friend was about to be unleashed.

"For those of you that _don't_ know of me, or my history, let me sum up a few things for you, _children_. I am a Jedi Master of the Old Code, and have been for over seven _hundred_ years. The Jedi Code that was instated that you all follow was set after Thame Cerulian joined the Dark Side. The masters of our time had us swear to _always_ follow the Old Code. I use my emotions and my instincts, and I'll be _damned_ if I stand here and be chastised by a group of _insolent_ _children_. Your old masters _tried_ to wipe that out of us, but you can _never_ destroy what we are at our core." Huey said as many of the Masters gave him looks of anger.

"Sith Lords" Mace Windu spoke up while leaning forward in his seat as several Masters looked panicked upon hearing that, "I've done some digging and found that you and another master by the name of Traban Tousen became Sith Lords around six hundred years ago." Windu finished as Huey nearly laughed at how stupid the child was.

"We were labeled as Sith Lord by some of the more irate council members during that time, but we weren't really." Huey said as he gave Windu a more pointed look, "Next time, why don't you find all the info, before jumping to anything, but then again; you are just a _child_ after all." Huey finished as he turned to Yoda, who had opened his eyes.

"I believe you should have opened Master Valdes's personal holocron. You know it holds the answers to the many questions that happened in those days; along with why we were reinstated as Jedi, despite some wanting to kill us." Huey said, looking around the gathered Masters while he decided to forgo any niceties and address the reason they were gathering.

"To be quite blunt, and I don't give a damn what any of you have to say, but this council- no, the whole Jedi Order in general have grown soft, weak, and complacent in their power during our absence. I sense the workings of the Dark Side within the Senate from here and if-"

"Now hold on!" A master interrupted him while standing up suddenly, "You have no right to speak-"

"Silence" Yoda said calmly, cutting off the Corellian Master as he opened his eyes and exhaled softly, "Mast Freeman, much he has seen. Foolish it is, to ignore his warnings. Trust he has of mine, _no_ question." Yoda finished as his eyes scanned the Masters, many of them shocked that their Grand Master for over a hundred years would trust an unknown Jedi without doubt.

"Rank of Master, he was given, by the Council after the Battle of Takoma over seven hundred years ago, but never confirmed it was. Confirm it now, should we?" Yoda said as he looked to Huey, who raised an eyebrow in slight surprise. Huey struck a thinking pose for a second before he shook his head.

"Oh, hell no!" Huey said as he shook his head, "I don't even want it now that I think about it. I hate meetings, and if you ask Traban, I can't even get my own descendants to listen to me." Huey said with his last comment getting many quirked eyebrows.

"Rank of Master has been awarded you, old friend. Why do you run from it, hmm?" Yoda asked as Huey sighed and gave Yoda an annoyed look.

"Huey", Yoda said in a soft voice as Huey looked at him, "Denying who and what you are, help you, it will not. Your need to help others, deep it is. Traban, be glad he would, if you accepted." Yoda finished as Huey sighed in defeat.

"_Damn manipulating little brat. You've been taking lessons from Traban_." He thought, remembering Traban saying something along those lines to manipulate him into going to that Amazon planet when they were Padawans over eight hundred years ago.

Damn his memory really was good…

"I really hate you right now, you little green bastard." Huey grumbled as Yoda gave him a satisfied grin.

"Protest too much, you do. Spoke highly of you, Master Tao did, during her lifetime. As well as Knight Gorman, Master Shodai, and many others in their holocrons too, they did."

"Hmph, they were always sappy bastards." Huey muttered with the slightest smile. To be honest he was touched they thought of him that way, even after he had abandoned them during one of their greatest battles...

* * *

><p>Suddenly the doors to the council chambers were thrown up as a Jedi Healer came running in with a frightened expression on her face.<p>

"Masters?" the Healer said as they turned towards her. She had some burn marks on her clothes and a few slash marks, but in all she looked well.

"What is it? We were in the middle of a very important meeting." Windu said sternly as she bowed before them and stepped next to Huey.

"I am truly sorry Masters, but a Jedi has just apprehended a Sith Lord, and has brought him into the temple. He escaped the Jedi's hold on him and then did battle with many Jedi who tried to recapture him. It wasn't until they all used their combined power to stalemate him. One of the Masters who happened to be pushing got him from behind and we have subdued him in the Infirmary where he has requested to see you, Grand Master Yoda; something about green midgets, uneducated children, and stupid brats." The Healer said as Huey raised a brow, but turned to the door as Yoda jumped to his side and they both began making their exit.

"This meeting isn't over yet." Mundi said as Huey turned back to the assembled Masters, yet Yoda kept walking.

"If you'll excuse me Masters, I best meet this 'Sith Lord' before someone offends him and he blows them and/or this Temple up." Huey said with a slight bow as he turned on heel and walked out; not waiting for their acknowledgment as many wide eyes followed him out of the doors, some Masters with their mouths agape.

"...Did he really mean that?" Plo Koon's deep voice rumbled as he stroked his chin absent-mindedly while Nautolan Master, Kit Fisto, grinned at him.

"Be interesting to find out, my friend." Fisto said as Plo Koon nodded with his own unseen grin under his breathing mask.

"Indeed, there will be some interesting times ahead. _Master _Freeman and any others like him will certainly bring changes. It'll be interesting to see his power." Plo Koon said as the hologram image of Master Shaak Ti nodded, noticing the inflection on the word Master when he spoke. Windu narrowed his eyes as he was sure that Huey Freeman and whoever else was with him would only bring headaches and trouble for them. It had been a shatter point in the Force that he saw as soon as the meeting had started.

"Well then, I'll prepare him a list of Padawans to choose from." Adi Gallia, the dark skinned woman from before, said as Fisto and Plo Koon stood up.

"I don't think they'll be taking Apprentices, Adi. I'm sure they'll pick up whoever they want _when_ they want. Besides, they've been doing this a lot longer than we have, so I'm sure they know what to do and how to do it." Kit Fisto said as he and Plo Koon walked from the room, much to the irritation of Mundi and a few others.

"Fisto, Koon! The meeting isn't over yet!" Windu yelled after them as Fisto laughed.

"I think it was over when Master Yoda left the room. Be seeing ya later." He said without turning around while waving them off.

"We'll pair them with Master Qui-Gon and his Padawan, Obi-Wan. That way they'll be… watched closely. Freeman gives into his anger too easily, and if he's like that, then it'll be all the more necessary." Windu said with his eyes closed as he reined in his emotions on his journey back to the apathy that was him, "We'll simply say that it's to allow them to become… re-accustomed to the Known Galaxy, since he claimed to have been away for about three hundred years." Mace finished as he opened his eyes and watched as his fellow remaining members of the council nodded.

* * *

><p><strong>In the Infirmary:<strong>

He sat there on the hospital regulation bed in a meditative position; eyes closed, crossed legs, and blank faced. He inhaled and exhaled steadily as he became one with the Force. It was all so calm, yet he could sense a virtual smoke cloud that was the Dark Side over the Senate building. It was so thick, yet hidden. If he hadn't been as great with the Force as he was then he'd have mistook it for the bad blood people merely had when dealing with politics. It was very common for negative emotions and dark aura to be affiliated with politics and the like.

He didn't even feel at unease as the sound of a cane against ground, and the walking of people entering the room came to his hearing. He seemly over looked them as he did all else when in this state.

"You walk with a cane now, old friend. I see that old age has taken its toll on you physical. You know Huey here would have gladly allowed Jazmine to come and rejuvenate you had we known. I would have come myself had I known this would be the case. And, if I may ask, are the two behind you and Huey, Yoda-boy?" Traban said as he neither opened his eyes nor moved an inch in his meditation.

"Hmm, yes, old I am. Returned to my prime, good for the future it would be. Later, it will be discussed. How are you, old friend? Becoming one with the Force, you are still well at. Masters Plo Koon and Kit Fisto, these two are. No harm, they are to one such as you. No ill will, they come with." Yoda said as Traban had still not moved, but Yoda noticed he was chained to the bed and into the very floor. Sometimes he wondered how Traban could be so calm when he, himself, did not like to be in such a state.

"I've been better; _much_ better. These children have treated me so roughly. I remember in our days we treated the Sith with grace and pleasantries, but now they handle supposed Sith Lords in any manner. They have chained me to this bed as if I were an animal." Traban said as he slowly opened his eyes, "As if I weren't a master of the Force such as they." he continued as he waved a hand over the chains. The chains snapped like twigs and the cuffs around his wrist broke in half, "As if I weren't any better."

"For your treatment, sorry I am. Sith lord, they thought you were. For their actions, forgive them, you must." Yoda said as Traban got off the bed and stood.

"I shall, old friend, but only because it is the Jedi way, and because you would be very upset with the death of all of your Jedi, _Grand Master_ Yoda." Traban said with a slight chuckle as Fisto and Plo Koon tried to figure out if he was serious or not.

"That title, you need not use. Knew me before it, you did. Old friends, we are. No titles, there are, between old friends such as we." Yoda said as Traban nodded and walked over to them.

"I heard you were captured by a Jedi, who was it?" Huey said, making his presence known beside Yoda as Traban turned to him.

"My oh-so-lovely Ming did the honor of dragging me in here. When I jerked away from her the Jedi here attacked me, saying that a Sith Lord such as I needed to come peaceful; all the while trying to kill me with their lightsabers." Traban remarked as Fisto and Plo Koon looked at one another. It must have been the over-eager Knights and Masters looking for either a promotion in rank or something to kill their boredom.

It only took a few seconds for what looked like the rest of the council to come to the door of the small infirmary room, all trying to see who it was inside. Yoda suggested that they step out of the tiny room so the other Masters could have a look at Traban. They did so as Traban stood beside Huey and Yoda while the council was opposite them.

"Well then, allow me to introduce myself to you _esteemed_ council members. I am Traban Tousen, I obtained the rank of Jedi Master over seven _hundred_ years, and my ID number is 05011994." Traban said with an air of pleasantry and a small, yet graceful bow while Yoda chuckled lightly and Huey rolled his eyes.

They both knew that Traban was being a type of sarcastic that only he and Huey reached, and while Huey liked to show his, Traban was always one to let people think and find out when they had been insulted by him. Right then as soon as Traban used the word 'esteemed' Huey knew that Traban was speaking down to them from atop Coruscant space-scrapers. Traban could be so damn condescending sometimes…

The Master bowed back to him in a show of respect, yet some did it warily; upon seeing that Traban gave a smile and held up his empty hands as he looked at them.

"Do not worry yourselves, _Masters_. My being a Sith Lord was merely a misunderstanding that has been cleared up." Traban said with a slight chuckle as the tension the Masters were carrying lessened a bit.

* * *

><p>"Ask that you and the others team up with Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, the council does. What say you, hmm?" Yoda asked as he gazed up to Traban and Huey, who shrugged after exchanging a look between one another.<p>

"It sounds fine to us, so long as the same things apply as they did last time, aye Yoda-boy?" Traban said as he and Huey looked at the nodding Yoda.

"Yes, they do. Always and forever, do those bylaws apply to you two and they. Never change, will it; no matter what." Yoda said as Traban smiled and Huey nodded.

"Yeah, I guess it's good that some things never change." Traban said as he raked his hand through his hair.

"Some things will never change, and you're lazy attitude is one of them." Huey said as Traban gaped at his friend while he walked away with Yoda, who was chuckling the entire time.

"Hey what's _that_ supposed to mean? Huey? _Huey_! Answer me!" Traban said as Huey just kept walking, ignoring him as he started chasing after him.

Some things will just never change…


	6. Getting to Know Your Kenobi

_**Skills (as in what their best at):**_

_**Huey- Lightsaber Combat (All Forms)**_

_**Traban- Normal Force Techniques (Force Push, Force Lightning, Force Sight, etc…) **_

_**Ming- Body Combat (Hand-to-Hand)**_

_**Jazmine- Healing, Political Matters**_

_**Riley- Blaster Combat, Space Piloting**_

_**Cindy- Advanced Force Techniques (Shatter-point sight, Future Sight, etc…)**_

_**All will be revealed in due time.**_

_**Be sure to review if you like my story.**_

**Chapter 6: Getting to Know Your Kenobi**

* * *

><p>"So Yoda-boy, is this Qui-Gon Jinn kid any good? And do all of us have to go with him and this Kenobi kid?" Traban asked as he finally caught up to Huey and Yoda.<p>

"Hmm, yes. Good it would be if all of you went. Strength in numbers, there are. Master Qui-Gon Jinn, a good Jedi, he is. Reminds me of Huey, he does." Yoda said as Huey raised a brow.

"So he's a snarky, ungraceful, flash-bomb of anger and pent up aggression- Ow!" Traban was saying, before Huey elbowed him in his ribs.

"Hmm, no really. More on the calm and cool side, he is. Also reminds me of you, Traban. Always trying to find amusement within things around him, he does. Also very intelligent and slightly lazy, he is." Yoda said as he hobbled down the corridor.

"Humph, well maybe I can work with him…" Traban said as Huey rolled his eyes. Yoda hummed as he walked.

"Are you boys not playing nice?" a sweet voice cut from the room up ahead as Jazmine came out of it, drying her hands on a small cloth.

"Just Huey. He's so mean, Jazzy." Traban said like a five year-old child as Jazmine rolled her own eyes with a small smile.

"I suppose your council has a mission for us." Jazmine said, more than asked, as Yoda nodded sagely, "You know that I'm still angry with you for getting so old without calling any of us, right?" again Yoda nodded, though this time more like a scolded child caught in the middle of trouble.

"Yes, mission the council has. Go with Jedi Master and his Padawan, you are to go." Yoda said as he walked into the room, Huey and Traban close behind him.

"Well, I guess Huey and the others can go with this Jedi Master while I stay and heal you back to your prime." Jazmine said as she made the door close and lock.

"Hmm… Not now, the time is. Later in the future, it will come. Feel it in the Force, I do. A secret, your powers must be kept." Yoda said with his eyes closed as Huey rolled his eyes.

"Yes, because the Force just loves see your ass walk around with the assistance of a cane." Huey said as Yoda opened his eyes to glance up at him before shaking his head.

"No cane, do I truly need. Can move at full speed through the Force, I can without it." Yoda said as three figures moved from the shadows of the room.

"Yeah, I saw little nigga Yoda floating around this bitch in a damn hover-chair. This nigga play they asses as a old man, but ain't nothing wrong with his ass." Riley said as Ming folded her arms and Cindy swept a bang on hair out of her face.

"Not my fault, it is, if they believe the wrinkles, an old man, they make me." Yoda said with a barely contained grin. He loved his hover-chair, and he'd be damned if he gave it up.

"Yo little, sly, green ass." Cindy said with an amused shake of her head.

"Can we please get back on track?" Ming said as she tapped her foot impatiently. She didn't care if Yoda got a hover-chair, or if Riley's hair had turned a rainbow color on Mustafa. She wanted to know what those kid Jedi Masters were to.

"I think I've formed a pretty good idea. They think, that because of us leaving the Order, and Huey and I having been labeled Sith long ago, that we'll turn on them and start up the Sith again or something. So, now they want a Jedi Master keeping a watch over us just in case we do "turn to the Dark side" or some bull crap." Traban said as Riley and Cindy exchanged looks.

"What? That's why we're about to be baby-sat? Because you two just had to go and get pissed off at the Jedi Council all those years ago?" Cindy asked as Huey narrowed her eyes at her.

"Excuse us for not just wanting to be brainwashed because some stupid ass little kid nearly drove the Order of then into exile and extinction. I was under the impress that they could kiss my Celestial-black ass if they wanted to change me." Huey said as Cindy rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean!" Cindy yelled as Traban and Jazmine stepped in the middle of the two.

"Cindy, calm down. Huey and I had all the right to do what we did back then. If we hadn't, then we'd be slaves of war to the Jedi Order right now; mindless and obedient." Traban said as Cindy crossed her arms and looked away with Riley at her side rolling his eyes.

"And you Huey should be ashamed at what you just said. You know Cindy didn't mean it like that, and that we all fully supported you two while still being in the Order. It was only thanks to Cindy and Yoda that we were able to avoid the memory wipe thing." Jazmine scolded as Huey did as Cindy had.

"Sorry, I am, that the Masters of then forced you into such Civil War. Close, are our bonds between we friends. Cherish them, and hold them high, we should." Yoda said with a peaceful hum.

"Yeah, whatever." Huey said with a sigh, "I won't apologize for _what _I said, but I do apologize for _how _I said it. Sorry, Cindy." Huey said as Cindy looked at him out the corner of her eye.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. I know what went down back then, and I shouldn't have let my… irksome-ness at now get me mad. Sorry, Hue-man." Cindy said as they both crossed the room and hugged each other for a brief second, before stepping away. 800 years had done a lot for their bonds of friendship, they could now stand to touch each _and _apologize in the same _day_!

"Okay then, let's go meet this Jedi Master, and show him how we do! Food and drinks on, Huey!" Cindy said as Ming gave her a look, but was still pulled along by the blond just like Jazmine. Huey stood there in shock before his eyebrow twitched in irritation.

"What? Cindy! I never said that! Get back here, dammit!" Huey said, running out the now opened door after a laughing Cindy. Traban and Riley exchanged looks with Yoda while the small Jedi Master shrugged and hobbled out the door.

"Bet you still can't hold your liquor." Traban teased as Riley glared at him.

"Oh, it's on now, nigga." Riley said as they both sprinted down the hall, intent on drinking the other under the table.

* * *

><p>"You know, Huey, I bet you're regretting that offer to buy food and drinks now." Cindy said as Huey's eyebrow twitched while he and Jazmine sat beside Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi. Cindy, seated beside Ming, who was sipping her beverage quietly, looked amused as Huey gritted his teeth to keep from cursing aloud. Apparently, Jedi couldn't do that anymore…<p>

"I did _not _offer _anything_. _You _offered _my _money, which I might add is _not yours_, for this meet-n-greet." Huey said with barely contained fury. She was so gonna get it one of these days.

Qui-Gon watched in near distress, and yet a large sense of amusement and fascination along with Obi-Wan, as yet another powerful drink was downed by a smirking Traban. A second later Riley followed the example, yet he swayed a bit as he did while the robotic waitress took their glasses and refilled them.

"By the Force...How much can these two drink?" Qui-Gon asked, his eyes following Riley and Traban's drinking, almost like watching a blur.

"Well…" Ming said, looking at the pair while contemplating how to drop the bomb on the Jedi, "Anywhere from fifteen to… was it fifty last times?"

"I think so." Cindy replied nonchalantly while Obi-Wan's eyes bugged out.

"Fifty!" Obi-Wan exclaimed in shock whilst Qui-Gon simply paled considerably, right before Riley's head hit the table. Traban smirked down at Riley's grumbling form as he sipped his victory drink gracefully.

"That is why I'm always right. And why you never challenge Traban Tousen to a drinking match." Traban said as Riley glared at him from his spot on the table. The hangover was coming much quicker than last time and so was the massive headache.

"Fuck you." Riley gritted out as Obi-Wan gasped.

"When and where?" Traban replied calmly with a smirk as Obi-Wan paled and then turned a light green.

"Go die in deep space, or freeze yo nuts off on Ilum." Riley said as Traban shrugged off the comments. He was too busy basking in the glory of being a great drinker.

"Ah, that was good. So, is there somewhere we can exercise that they won't mind getting a bit thrashed? I couldn't fine the heavy training room in the West-wing earlier, so I guess they took it out in our absence." Ming said as she finished her meal and drink. Obi-Wan watched as Traban stood and stretched while Huey took out a card and handed it to the mechanical-waitress.

"Exercise?" Obi-Wan asked in surprise as he switched his gaze to Ming, "How can he even move after all that?"

Traban smiled at the kid and ruffled his hair whilst waving it off, "That was nothing, my inexperienced young friend."

"So, how do you wish to do this?" Ming asked, looking at Qui-Gon Jinn, who shrugged.

"We'll just take things as they come?" Qui-Gon said as Huey looked at him like an oddity, but Traban nodded with a smile.

"Yep, Yoda-boy was right. I think we're going to get along just fine." Traban said as Qui-Gon Jinn raised a brow at the Yoda-boy comment, but shrugged it off as a "close friends" thing.

"That's great and all, but I was referring to the tour of the planet and Jedi Temple. Coruscant has changed quite a large amount in the last three centuries. Some landmarks are the same, but not all of them…" Ming said, trailing off as she looked out at the skyline from the open bar they were in. They all looked up and saw the sky nearly completely filled with cruisers and speeders.

"Come, I think we'll start with the need to know places, and work our way from there." Qui-Gon said, rising from his seat, but his jaw dropped when he turned and saw his Padawan being shaken like a Burtian baby on Burtia in the Outer Rim by Traban.

"Say it again! I _dare _you! I _double dare_ you, you heathen bastard!" Traban said as Huey, Jazmine and Cindy tried to pry him off the boy while Ming looked on in indifference and Riley was still grumbling to himself.

"Traban, what the heck? Stop!" Jazmine yelled, Traban stopping in mid-torture to giving them all an innocent look.

"B-but, Jazzy, Hue-man, Cin, he insulted my precious Ramen noodles and then-"

"I did not! I only said, after you explained the meal to me, was that eating all those noodles and salt intake can't be healthy for one as old as you!" Obi-Wan protested as Traban tried back to the boy to give him a venomous glare.

"See! The boy speaks utter blasphemy, and then he dares to insult me by mocking my age and calling me old! He shall repent for his sins! Repent, heathen spawn of a muck-worm!" Traban said as he shook Obi-Won like a rag doll.

Ming sighed as the others continued to try and pry Obi-Wan from Traban's vice-grip, Obi-Wan flailing in distress.

"My husband is such a child at times…" Ming muttered as she rubbed her temples. Cindy sighed as she stepped back, and with the Force, separated Traban from Obi-Wan.

"Sorry boys, but he gets energetic after drinking so much… and sleeping… and… alright, he's always crazy, but that's one of his good qualities. Never a dull moment with him around." Ming said as she held Traban by the scruff of his neck, but when he pulled away, held him in the air with the Force.

Riley smirked as Traban hung in the air, upside-down while his arms folding and a childish pout appeared on his lips.

"Are you gonna to put me down nicely, or will I need to show you people what tonic looks after a trip to my stomach? Trust me; it ain't a pretty sight to behold." Traban said with an air of calmness as Ming scowled at him.

"You puke on me and I swear I'll use your guts to paint the temple walls while your blood is being used to change the color of the floors." Ming said as Traban laughed and shrugged. Ming finally released him, the two Jedi and the patrons who had stopped to watch the show of the strange supposed Jedi seemed stunned by the display.

"So, about that tour." Ming said as she rounded on Qui-Gon Jinn. The man sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. He could feel the gray hairs already from being around these people. He smiled as he thought of just how much stress and shock would come with the fun and humor from having them all around.

"Right then, shall we?"

They had wandered the city while Huey and the others would point out some things that were similar, making offhand comments about some of the differences they saw. Such as a building that used to be a flat, or a bar that used to be an apartment, but had been demolished, paved over, and built upon to change with the times. They saw species they remembered over the many years, and others that they had never seen before while on their travels.

Ming smiled as she entered the training room of the Jedi Temple that morning, a bounce in her step, and a glow about her aura many found intriguing. Huey and the others only shook their heads as they also noticed the face-splitting grin she was wearing as she rolled her shoulders. Ming wasn't paying attention, however, for in her hand was a newly constructed lightsaber (one that she had been dying to practice with since she built it three days ago).

She did, however, take notice of the four Jedi Masters that were training in the room once Qui-Gon Jinn had led them into it. Her grin seemed to double in size (if that was possible) as she turned back to the others, Traban gulping as he felt fear for the four unsuspecting "training dummies".

"I'm just gonna be here a while." Ming said as Traban and Cindy were the first two back out the door, the others following quickly as even Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan knew that when they heard a single lightsaber ignite and the screams of four Masters; it was time to run like hell.

* * *

><p>That same night, since their mission with the Master and Padawan wasn't until tomorrow, spent that night (and early morning) making love to their spouses. Well, maybe making love wasn't the correct term. More like Huey plowing Jazmine into the bed after years of celibacy, Cindy spurred Riley on with her dirty talk, and Ming clenching her thighs as Traban pounded into her.<p>

Yeah, that was by far more accurate.

The fact all three women were having problems getting up from their beds was an added bonus.

Though each man was happy as they walked out of their respected rooms, all three stopped short and fell silent at seeing Obi-Wan sitting on one of the meditation mats in the hall, one eye open and staring at them, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Umm… Hey, how's it goin', Obi-Wan?" Traban greeted, dropping down into his own lotus position, hands on his knees as Huey and Riley did the same on other mats. Obi-wan looked at Traban before glancing at Huey and Riley, who looked like they didn't want to know what the kid might say.

To be perfectly honest, they were all pretty damn loud, and had completely forgotten that they had rooms next to the Master-Student pair.

"Good morning, Master Traban, Master Huey, Master Riley. You three look… exceptionally happy today." Obi-Wan said as Traban used the Force to cloud his thoughts. Huey and Riley simply let their emotions and reactions hide in the Force until later as they stared blankly at the Padawan.

"Let's just say that we... had a good night." Traban said as Obi-wan chuckled at the unsure look on his face. He was hiding something either embarrassing or not meant for "children".

"We'll tell you when you're older Ben." Riley said, in a proper tone of voice as Huey and Traban shot him a quick glance of surprise. Riley's cheeks were a light hue of pink, and Huey bet money (or credits as they were called on this side of the universe) that Riley didn't want the Padawan boy trying to talk sex with Cindy.

Because Huey knew he damn well didn't want the boy trying to even speak on the subject with Jazmine.

"Okay… but why the nickname? And why must it be Ben?" Obi-wan asked in a slightly whining tone. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate becoming closer to the age-old Masters that could call Grand Master Yoda "Yoda-boy", and the Council Members "simple children", but if he had to receive a nickname, then he wanted something a little less… plain.

Just before Riley could reply, laughter had all four males turn about toward the hallway. Huey and the others smiled upon seeing Jazmine, Cindy, and Ming standing there hanging off each other's shoulder as they looked around the corner. All three of them had their hair was down and still a mess, but each had a brush in their hand.

"Morning loves." the three women said as they swapped partners; Ming standing over Huey, Jazmine sitting with Riley, and Cindy by Traban. All four males glanced at each other as they were unsure about the situation, but when each male spouse was handed a hair brush, they understood.

Long ago, they each decided that it was only right for them to experience being around one another's spouses. So eventually after so many years, it had become like a second marriage with the change, but after a hundred years with no contact with one another, Huey had to admit that he had almost forgot.

Normally Huey and Jazmine were inseparable, even with the relationship "swapping". They both tolerated it, mostly because it made sense not to be too attached to a person that would be just as "long living and free-wheeling" as you were. It was only after Cindy had confessed a growing love for Traban that they kept it going, but it had stopped after a certain "incident" which left a foul taste in all their mouths.

"My hair needs attending to, Huey." Ming said in an amused tone as she waved the brush in front his face.

He narrowed his eyes at her and snatched it with a smirk as she mirrored his. She knelt down in front of him before completely sitting, Huey and her now joined in "the brushing circle" as the other two couples were. He sat behind her and began brushing just the way he remembered she liked; rough and with no tender girly-ness.

Ming always liked being treated as an equal if not superior; except he wasn't Traban, even if the superior feeling made her happy, his own pride and stubbornness wouldn't allow it and so they were merely equals.

Huey also knew that Traban knew how to handle both Jazmine and Cindy; Riley did too with both Ming and Jazmine. Traban treated each of them with an "length-loving", meaning that he let them be or do whatever they wanted, and even supported them, but if he felt something was wrong or that it was far too dangerous, he would put his foot down and most would agree right their (most meaning all but Ming's pride and confidence).

Riley treated the girls with a sort of "trade-love", meaning that they worked as a team, and so long as you did your share, he'd do his. If you didn't do your share, then he would complain about it, and still not do anything about his own. That meant if you didn't want to have sex, he'd complain, but not force himself on you. Huey had to admit, eight hundred years of life had done a great deal of work on Riley's habits and personality (Huey also contributed the success in Riley's new-found intelligence and gentlemanly-ways to many years of Force training and apathy).

Obi-wan watched the pairs in frank curiosity as they brushed the wives' of the other men's hair. He was honestly very curious about what kind of relationship the six had with each other, and the story behind it. It seemed that, with the way the women each eased into the hold of these men (who weren't their husbands, but to any outsider that didn't know that fact would have thought them to be) they had been doing it before and repeatedly to gain such close comfortably with each other without fear from their actual spouses. It wasn't a n open-relationship, because they seemed to have a set on their way. It wasn't swinging (as his Master had mentioned once) because they didn't seem to be looking for others to join. No, it just seemed that they traded marriages every now and then to both accept the fact that attachments were lost, and remind themselves that if something ever happened, they had another who person (or persons depending on the outcome) that would feel their pain and help them heal while healing with them.

Though the question still remained; why they seemed so tense about the situation just earlier? Had something happened that made them reflexively so, or had a bad experience left them with a horrid memory of the practice?

The Force was trying to guide him to the answer, but it also was stirring him away from asking about it.

* * *

><p>Cindy, seeing young "Ben" watching them, smiled, "Don't ask about this whole switching partners thing, okay little Ben. We have a deal, of sorts, but we haven't really done this in a while and something happened that made us stop." Cindy said as she relaxed into Traban, climbing into his lap to get more comfortable as the others had already done.<p>

Riley ran the brush through Jazmine's hair as she sighed. He smiled a bit as he found her relaxed face of sincerity a pleasant change from Cindy's. It wasn't that Cindy was boring or bad, but a change of pace every now and then (even in an eternal marriage such as his) was a good thing. Extremely long life began boredom if one does not find a way to shake it up. At least… that was what Master Grant had said after he served his twenty years of imprisoned reflection for abandoning the Jedi Order.

"Plus, this right here is relaxing as well." Jazmine said as she smiled in relaxation while Obi-Wan could have sworn she looked about ready to purr.

"And his nicknaming you and with Ben no less is simple really." Ming said as she allowed Huey to brush and arrange her hair to his liking, all of them ignoring the people watching from around the halls and rooms.

"Riley likes to give nicknames to people he feels are "good" and worth his time. As for Ben…"

"He probably took the "B" from the sound "O_bi_" in the first part of your name and "en" sound from _Ken_obi, and thus you've been christened Ben. Get used to it, because it will definitely stick with you so long as we're alive." Cindy said with a light grin. Riley gave an indignant cry that he wasn't that uncreative, and Jazmine politely jabbed him with her elbow… hard.

"Ignore the man-child named Riley Escobar Freeman behind me, because I doubt he'll ever fully grow up." Jazmine said as Riley looked ready to pout, but proving Jazmine wrong kept him from doing so.

"Aye, You the one all on me, so I must be more than a man-child." Riley said cockily as Obi-wan got to see the petite Jedi Master blush as she jabbed him again.

"Huey is right, you are a brat." Jazmine said as Riley smirked.

"Yeah, well is gay, that, and I might be a brat, but I got you in my lap, oh lady of the- Ow! Now that shit hurt, Jazz."

"Then shut up." Jazmine replied as Riley merely nodded at that while he rubbed his bruising ribs.

The others sat and watched each other in silence as Traban brushed out Cindy's hair and then began to put it in her normal twin braids. Huey put Ming's hair in an oriental bun as Riley struggled to get Jazmine's hair into her ordinary two puff-balls.

"You know, Master Jazmine, your hair doesn't look nearly as short as I would have believed it was yesterday." Obi-Wan said as Jazmine gave him a kind smile.

"Yeah, that's because it always gets all frizzy and stuff. When I wash or put water in my hair it goes down to its real length. My hair is actually longer than Cindy and Ming's."

Obi-Wan saw that the hair went down her back to the base of her spine. He looked over at the other two women and saw that their hair only went to mid-back. His gaze lingered on Cindy as he watched Traban braid her hair with a practiced ease, humming a tone he wasn't familiar with.

"Always remember Ben, women are like a fine tonic; great in the morning and nights, but give you a headache you wish they wouldn't." Traban joked, right before he yelped in pain and clutched his ribs.

A chuckle was heard directly behind Obi-Wan as he turned to see Qui-Gon approaching.

"Good advice, Master Tousen. Glad I found you all in one place. The Council has asked that you all and we, meaning Obi-Wan and I, run to Naboo to settle a trade dispute. It's not much, but it will help you see some of the galaxy as it is now since Naboo is a normality. They also wanted a few of you to make a run to Nar Shaddaa to see about a disturbance. Master Yoda requested Masters Riley and Traban to go to Nar Shaddaa, and meet up with us at Naboo."

"That sounds… okay. I'm sure Naboo is just as lovely as it's always been." Jazmine said, since she had been in the "known" galaxy for a while longer than the others. Traban closed his eyes and hummed like Yoda would as he continued to braid Cindy's hair.

He looked up at Qui-Gon noticing the man's messy ponytail, "You want me to do yours next, Jinn-boy?"

"Umm…N-No, thank you, Master. I'm fine as it is, but thank you for the offer." Qui-Gon replied as Traban shrugged and finished Cindy's braids. Cindy took both braids in her hands just as Huey finished Ming's bun and Riley had finally done Jazmine's hair-puffs.

Always nice work when the boys were doing their hair.

"Our boys could have been stylists." Jazmine said as she walked over to Ming and touched the braided Chinese-bun.

"But being a Jedi was more fun." Huey finished for her as he gave her and Ming a kiss each.

"You've caused enough havoc for the ten Jedi that'll follow after you." Ming said as Huey shrugged and sent Traban a look.

"I don't know… Our Padawans actually turned out to be completely professional Jedi Masters, so we couldn't have been all that bad." Traban said with a smirk at Ming as he got up, Riley and Cindy standing with the others as he did.

"Yeah, but they did like to imitate you two. Always charging into battle with a plan you never tell anyone else about." Cindy said as Traban shrugged.

"I think that's cause we're awesome, and got it like that." Traban defended as Riley scoffed.

"Please nigga, yo ass ain't got nothing like nothing. I'm the great one; training bad-ass Jedi like nobody's business." Riley boasted as Traban glared at him lightly.

"Says the boy who can't hold his liquor."

"Says the idiot that walked off that cliff that one time."

"Says the moron that actually thought a Gungan was part blaster."

"Says the nigga who took over a planet, and then forgot where it was located."

"I told you my planet's coordinates just up and vanished from the archives! I'm so serious when I say that one day it was there, and the next it was gone." Traban said, throwing his hands up as Riley just had to bring that up again.

"Are you two gonna be okay working together by yourselves, because if not-"

"We'll be just fine, Huey. Riley and I get along a lot better and are way _closer _than most people would believe." Traban said with a smirk as Riley's face tinted red. He took a deep breath before calming down, but still glared at Traban. Huey raised a brow at the implied message of that statement, but didn't say anything since it seemed near impossible to him.

Realize he said _near _impossible.

"So, it'll be us on Naboo while Traban and Riley handle whatever on that Hutt-space moon, huh?" Huey sighed out, he could already tell these missions were gonna be a headache.

"I would prefer that all of us were together for the Nar Shaddaa mission, but it's out of my hands. Nar Shaddaa is a rough place under the control of the Hutts. It is a hive of scum and villainy." Qui-Gon Jinn said, looking at Traban and Riley like they were his Padawans, "You must be cautious."

"Yeah, yeah, Jinn-boy. I may be just a bit rusty, but I have been doing these "errands" for the Council for the better part of eight centuries." Traban said, hating how people thought he needed to hear words of concern from those younger and less experienced than himself.

"Yeah, we got this. Y'all just make sure you don't get ya damn heads cut off by a Sith Lord or some shit." Riley said as he and Traban exchanged looks with a nod.

"Shall we go see the esteemed Council in order to get our mission specifics?" Traban said with graceful bow toward the hall.

"No need, I have them in these data-files. All we need to do are pack, and go to the hanger where our ship awaits." Qui-Gon said as Huey and the others looked stunned.

"I thought the mission wasn't until tomorrow." Ming said as Qui-Gon gave a serious look of thought.

"It was, but the Masters on the Council have a bad feeling about Naboo and Nar Shaddaa. They want us to leave as soon as possible today." Qui-Gon said as Huey cast a glance at Cindy, who nodded for some unknown reason.

"Fine, let's get on with it then." Huey said with a sigh as he disappeared back into his room, the others doing the same as they came back out. Each had their lightsaber on their belts and cloaks on as they came out.

"_May the Force be with us, because I have a bad feeling about this_…" Huey thought as they began walking out the halls and toward the hangar deck of the temple.


	7. On Missions, Niggas Must Go!

_**Longest Chapter I've ever written so far. But of course it would be a Star Wars chpater... of course...**_

_**Oh well, you guys know the drill! Hit, Ben!**_

_**Lightsaber Colors:**_

_**Huey- Light Blue**_

_**Jazmine- Normal Pink**_

_**Riley- Deep Green**_

_**Cindy- Deep Blue**_

_**Traban- Normal Purple**_

_**Ming- Light Red**_

**Chapter 7: On Missions, Niggas Must Go!**

* * *

><p>Traban and Riley looked around the freighter-class ship that the council had booked them passage on. Riley looked over at Traban, who sighed from his seat next to a raggedly dressed alien.<p>

"I hate not having my own ship anymore." Traban said as he sunk into his seat.

"Well I heard that the one Huey came in on became scrap-metal during his landing." Riley said with obvious mirth as Traban chuckled.

"Even after so long, and his ass _still_ can't fly a ship." Traban said with a shake of his head.

"Why _didn't_ we just take a ship of our own?" Riley said as Traban shrugged.

"Honestly, if I had my own ship, we would have, but I have to admit that this is better. We're blending in with the crowd, and it'll look less suspicious this way." Traban said as he began to mediate, "You should try meditation, Riley; it'll help pass the time."

"Naw, I wanna stay tense. Tense keeps niggas alive, and since we're going back to Nar Shaddaa, I wanna to be ready to fuck a nigga up." Riley said as Traban closed his eyes with a smile.

It was a long trip to Nar Shaddaa, one that made Riley's eyebrows twitch in impatience. He and Traban left the spaceport, wrinkling their noses up at the foul stench that hung in the air.

"Damn, it smells like a muckworm's ass-crack around here!" Riley said, pinching his nose closed.

"Yeah, it does stink." Traban said, trying not breath as deeply as he normally would.

"We'll just breathe in through our mouths and out our noses." Riley said as Traban nodded as they began walking again.

"Riley, please don't talk to anyone around here. You know that most the inhabitants will stab you in the back and rob your bleeding corpse before they give you the time of day." Traban said as they walked. Riley cut his eyes toward a man in rags that had been inching toward them, growling at the guy until he moved away. Traban merely shook his head as Riley turned back to him with a slight glare.

"Why aren't the Jedi now-a-days doing anything about this crap? It was never this bad when we were Masters on the Council." Riley said as Traban shrugged with a sigh.

"Nar Shaddaa has been like this, even back when we were around; it was just a bit tidier than now. Even we of the Jedi can't force change on those who don't like or want it." Traban replied as he and Riley moved through the streets.

"So… see anything similar to our last time here?" Riley asked his companion, knowing that Traban would be able to recognize the land better than he would after over a hundred years. Riley had kept his hand staying near the blaster holster on his waist, while his other hand was kept free to summon his lightsaber in a moment's notice. He was not afraid, but he was wise enough to know that on Hutt-control worlds they could be shot within a second.

Mostly because of his last time on Nar Shaddaa seeing a Hutt…

"Well… I won't lie; a lot of the buildings have been replaced over time, but it seems that south of here is the refugee sector. There are the docks, the Jek-Jek Tar, that alien bar from last time that you went in. Remember, the gases in there ate through your lungs without your spacesuit, and we had to use the Force to get you out along with Jocasta."

Riley only nodded with a grunt as he rubbed his chest under his cloak. That had been a bitch of a pain, and an even bigger bitch to heal completely.

"…to the north seem to be several ship mechanics on various levels, Pazaak dens, another bar…" Traban said, pointing things out, but paused as Riley grinned.

"Do they still have swoop racing?" Riley asked as he rubbed his hands together.

"I think it's been replaced by pod racing since a hundred years ago." Traban said as he rubbed his freshly shaved chin. Riley sighed as he crossed his arms childishly with a small pout as they continued to move.

"I liked swoop racing, man. Hmm… maybe I can get a swoop bike, and take you out on it." Riley said as Traban shook his head with a laugh. Riley had to remember that he hated those damn things, and with the grin Riley had on he obviously did remember.

"Hmm… the Bounty Hunter's Guild." Traban said with a smirk at Riley as Riley mirrored it.

"Do we have time to take up a job and a lap-dance?" Riley said as Traban shook his head.

"No, we have a mission, so we'll do those sorts of things on our own time." Traban said with as he and Riley bumped elbows in a show of comrade.

"Plus, it's something we'll have to avoid if we wish to keep our happy marriages." Traban said in afterthought as Riley blinked.

"Where did that come from?"

"Remember when you and I went out on those "meditative retreats and treks". They found out but never said anything. Like that time we left them in that hotel room for the day and came back drunk and happy." Traban said as Riley's eyes widened with a shake of his head.

"I love my wife, and will never need a place like that. Yet, that doesn't mean that I don't like places like that." Riley said, but it was ruined by the grin he wore. He leaned over to Traban and whispered, "But maybe we can send Ben there. The kid needs to get laid, and a perfect time would be when he becomes a Jedi Knight."

Traban chuckled as he shook his head, "No." he said mirthfully, "We should not corrupt such a pure youngling soul. Besides, I have a feeling that his Knighthood shall be sooner rather than later."

"He's got to be nearly twenty, Traban." Riley said as he looked ahead and saw that they had walked while not really watching their surroundings.

"Ahh, here we are! The Quartz Bar! This is where we go." Traban said as he and Riley walked into the cantina.

Their contact was waiting…

* * *

><p>"The Supreme Chancellor has asked us to investigate the recent blockade of Naboo." Qui-Gon Jinn said as he, Obi-Wan, Huey, Jazmine, Ming, and Cindy sat on a Republic ship headed toward Naboo.<p>

"And what did they say our actions were to be, should negotiations for ceasing hostilities go fail?" Jazmine asked with a calm brow raised.

Out of all of them, even the very manipulative Traban, Jazmine was the best at negotiations, politics, and diplomacy. She was the one who could stay calm and cool in a heated political discussion while all the others (even Huey and Traban) were saying things like: "_we can always just blow their planet up_", or "_we can kill them with the Force_". No, she was well versed in politics and how to handle them, her own father having been a District Attorney on Earth and having taught her from an earlier age how to survive and thrive in the dark world of diplomacy.

The hologram of Yoda humming as the other holo-Council members looked impressive by her calm, cool, and collected aura. Jedi were, by no extension, politicians.

"Report to us, you must. Advise the Chancellor, we will, upon your findings. Be careful, you must. Shrouded this is, in the Dark-side of the Force. The events that will transpire, much is unknown of them." Yoda said agedly as he eyed Jazmine. Her political know-how would be needed for their mission, but he had a feeling she wouldn't even get the chance to talk peaceably with the Viceroy of the Federation. Oh well, so long as Huey and Ming was there for the fighting, he was sure all would be well.

"Sure… we'll be as careful as a Sulfur-cat in a room full of hover-chairs, Yoda." Huey said as he rolled his eyes visibly while the image of Mace Windu seemed to frown at his lack of respect.

"To Naboo, you go, then. Several days, you have, to prepare before arrival." Yoda said as Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, along with the others, could see a dismissal when it was evident. They all nodded and bowed to the Council, Jazmine forcing Huey to do so while Cindy made Ming.

"May the Force be with you." Windy said before the Council images disappeared. Huey glared at Jazmine while Ming was too busy trying to glare a hole in Cindy's head.

"You will pay for that." Huey growled out as Ming seemed to agree with him as she nodded it to Cindy.

"Sure…" Jazmine and Cindy said as they went back to mediating while Huey and Ming paced the floor repeatedly.

"We're on approach, and the captain wants us in the cockpit." Obi-Wan said, shutting off his com-link as the four Masters nodded. They followed Qui-Gon and young Ben from their quarters and headed up toward the cockpit, knowing they were doing so to see where they would be meeting the Trade Federation blockade in space above the planet Naboo.

"I have a bad feeling about this?" Huey said as Jazmine shook her head.

"You and Riley are always having bad feeling about something." Jazmine said in amusement as she and Cindy exchanged looks.

"And they're normally right…" Huey muttered with his arms crossed as they walked into the cockpit, looking out the window to see a large number of ships.

"Well, I have no doubt that this isn't just some blockade." Cindy said as the Republic-class Cruiser made its approach to the main station, "I mean, look at the size of this fleet… Wait, did I say fleet? I meant this damn _armada_ of ships. And all controlled by the Trade Federation, no doubt."

"Size, in this particular case, doesn't matter, Cindy. Not when I am thrown into the equation." Ming said with a grin and a shake of her head. Huey and Jazmine could only sigh as they gazed out the window.

"Why is it that every megalomaniac or power-hungry group has to compensate for their insanity with giant ships and huge armies?" Jazmine asked rhetorically as Huey shrugged. Huey smirked a bit as he gazed down at Jazmine.

"In that case, what do you compensate for, dear?" Huey asked as Jazmine looked up at him and saw his smirk.

"What?" Jazmine asked in genuine confusion before she smirked herself, "I don't need to compensate for my crazy. That's why I have you, because you're way crazier than I'll ever be."

Huey knew better than to have a battle of witty retorts with a politically-mindset Jazmine, so he forsook making any further comments. He ignored the playful banter between the pilot, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan in favor of staying tense and coiled to strike at whatever evils lurked in the shadows.

"I've just finished making preparations with Docking Traffic Control. We've been cleared to land." The pilot said, his voice laced with notable worry that rippled in the Force as Ming sighed and flopped down into the co-pilot seat unceremoniously.

"Just great! We're basically flying blindly, and bare-assed mind you, into a lion's den. And me without my score-pad to keep track of all the enemies I kill." Ming said with exaggerated hand movements as Huey turned to her with a data-pad.

"I brought mine if you want to share." Huey said as Ming smiled devilishly at him.

Ming and Huey stopped playing around when they saw that Cindy hadn't stopped looking at the Trade Federation Control Ship they were heading for. The docking bay doors were sliding open as their cruiser made its final approach. They gained serious looks as they exchanged glances with Jazmine, who had been watching Cindy for a little longer than they were.

"Something wrong, Cin?" Jazmine asked as she put a hand on the blonde's shoulder. That seemed to pull her out of her trance as Cindy blinked, but her eyes never left the sight of the window.

"I'm… not sure… I don't know enough about the situation, but something feels… off; even somewhat ominous, though it all definitely feels out of place for a diplomatic mission." Cindy said, hugging her arms to her torso as she pressed on, "Even though we've just arrived here, I can tell that there is definitely more going on here than merely a bunch of merchants holding a blockade over a peaceful world. We all need to be mindful of the Force this time."

At her thoughtful tone, Huey's scowl deepened while Jazmine's face grew as somber as Ming's. They all nodded at her words as Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan exchanged looks of uncertainty.

She couldn't be right… could she?

Huey, now thinking more of the mission than his regular paranoia, scowled out the window at the fleet of ships holding orbit around Naboo.

"All these ships… and each probably filled to the brim with battle droids." Huey said disdainfully while Ming and Jazmine nodded.

Qui-Gon nodded from his seat as he and Obi-Wan pulled up their hoods, having already gotten their cloaks on as Jazmine called theirs forth from their room with the Force. She sighed, pulling hers on as well before turning to Huey (more specifically his afro). She handed him his cloak as he frowned at it.

"Huey, _sweetie_, you need to put on your cloak." Jazmine said in a sweet tone as Huey looked at her like she was crazy.

"No thank you, _honey_. I'll pass." Huey replied, pushing the cloak away as he went back to looking out the window.

"Huey Freeman, you will put on the cloak, put on the hood, and play the role of an inconspicuous ambassador, or with the Force as my witness, I will make sure we _never _sleep together again!" Jazmine said in a loud and threatening tone as Huey's head whipped around so fast that Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were sure they heard bones cracking.

"Y-you… you couldn't… You _wouldn't_." Huey challenged as Jazmine gave him a look.

"I most certainly can, and _will_; unless you put this cloak on, Mister Man." Jazmine said, shoving the brown Jedi cloak into his arms before walking away with Cindy and Ming following her with chuckles and whipping noises directed fully at him.

Obi-Wan had been privilege to see the usual scowling Jedi Master making faces behind his wife's back.

* * *

><p>The small cruiser slowly made its entrance into the hangar of the Trade Federation command-ship, deploying its' landing gear before coming to a stop on the platform, docking clamps locking the ship into place to indicate it was fully docked. The loading ramp of the Republic cruiser opened, and five cloaked figures disembarked slowly, making their way across the hangar where they were met by a silver protocol droid.<p>

"Greetings. I am TC-14, at your service. This way, please." The droid greeted, before proceeding to lead the quartet from the docking bay, completely ignoring the droid activity going on behind them.

They were led down several corridors, before being guided to a large blast door. The door opened prior to their arrival, revealing a rather formal conference room in which they are led into.

"We are greatly honored by your visit, ambassadors. I hope you will be able to make yourselves comfortable here. My master will be with you shortly." The droid said politely with a rigid bow before leaving the room as the door shut with the normal hissing sound.

Turning around, the five cloaked figures lowered their hoods, and looked out the bay windows, each giving them a glance at the lush blue and green planet of Naboo.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I have a bad feeling about this." Huey said as Obi-Wan seemed to agree whole-heartedly to the comment.

"I don't sense anything." Qui-Gon said, looking at his fellow Master.

"Nor do I…" Ming said, but she was fingering her lightsaber under her cloak as she leant against a side wall while looking at the planet of Naboo.

"It hasn't changed much…" Jazmine mused as Huey let a small smile grace his features. It was one of the only planets he knew that were almost always peaceful.

Well, except for all those Human-Gungan wars and such… Still, it was pretty peaceful compared to most other planets like the Hutt-controlled ones.

Qui-Gon put a hand on his Padawan's shoulder, patting it reassuringly as they stood together.

"Keep your concentration here and now, where it belongs. Remember; always be mindful of the Living Force." Qui-Gon said to his student as Cindy nodded, being a Master of the Living Force herself.

"I believe young Benny is simply eager to get to the real action." Ming said as she smirked at the sighing Padawan.

"Madam Ming, could you please not take up your fellow Master's bad habit of calling me by that or any new versions of a name, please?" Obi-wan said before turning to his own Master, "Master Yoda says I should be mindful of the future."

"Yes… true, but not at the expense of the moment." Cindy said, knowing that the future could change in a heartbeat, but the now was always within grasp.

"Please, be mindful of the living Force, my young Padawan." Qui-Gon said as Obi-Wan conceded.

"Yes, Master." Obi-Wan said as Huey felt they needed a change of subject.

"How do you think the Trade Federation Viceroy will deal with the demands we carry from the Chancellor?" Huey asked as Jazmine scoffed at him, getting the attention of the others.

"If the Trade Federation is like I think it is; being made up of a bunch of merchants and the like, then they're a bunch of cowards. The army is all for show if my thinking is correct." Jazmine said as Qui-Gon agreed.

"I believe the negotiations will be short. Whether that is a good thing or not remains to be seen though."

* * *

><p>Nute Gunray looked at his protocol droid in shock.<p>

"What? What did you just say?"

TC-14 repeated itself as it wanted to sigh in annoyance, "The five ambassadors from the Supreme Chancellor are Jedi Knights, I believe."

Gunray's companion panicked. "I knew it. They were sent here to force a settlement. We're done for."

"No, we're not. Distract them, keep them occupied. I will contact Lord Sidious." Gunray ordered his companion.

"Are you brain-dead? I'm not going in there with one Jedi, much less five!" He then turned to TC-14. "...Send the droid."

"Hmm...very well. Bring them some refreshments, and try to keep them complacent." Gunray replied as the TC-14 looked reluctant, but obeyed.

Damn it's programming…

They waited until TC-14 had walked away, then turned to one another. Gunray merely nodded, before turning to his center console, pressing several buttons in sequence. Soon, a hologram of a cloaked figure appeared, seeming to stare down upon the Nemodians like they were not worth the cloak he were (which they weren't to him).

"What is it?" Sidious asked in mild irritation as he looked them over. Dear Force they looked scared, and it wasn't of him!

Before Gunray could respond, his companion, Daultay Dofine, interrupted, "This game of yours has failed, Lord Sidious! The blockade is finished! We dare not go against the Jedi."

Sidious twisted his face in contempt of the spineless creature that dared to stand before him, and tell him that his plan was doomed from the beginning. He would have the muckworm killed in the next hour if he could, but resolved to have the cowardly whelp killed tomorrow. He then turned slightly to face Gunray as he spoke, displaying his contempt visibly.

"Viceroy... I don't ever want this _stunted slime_ in my sight again."

Having been cowed, Dofine shoulders slumped as he scurried away. He had no wish to be killed by the Sith Lord, and so he moved away as fast as he could.

"This turn of events is… unfortunate." Sidious pondered, as he thought of ways to dispose of those blasted Jedi, "We must accelerate our plans… Viceroy, begin launching your troops."

Nute Gunray blinked in surprise, but chose his words very carefully, "Umm… My Lord, is that… you know… legal?"

Sidious snarled at him for daring to question his power and control over the situation, "I will _make _it legal."

The Viceroy knew that after the stunt Dofine pulled, he was treading on thin ice with the Dark Lord, and so as not to end up dead by morning he simply moved on, "And… the Jedi?"

"The Chancellor should never have brought them into this; kill them immediately." Sidious said with nothing more than a harsh tone as Nute Gunray paled, but did not allow his fear to show in his disposition (even though Sidious felt it through the Force). Gunray merely nodding his head as the transmission ended, "Yes… uh, yes, my lord. A-as you command."

* * *

><p>Traban and Riley watched as their contact left, Riley not bothering to hide his irk at the lack of information they were able to obtain.<p>

And for 600 credits! He could have got his rocks for half the amount, too…

"That was a fucking waste of time." Riley said with a hint of disgust. Traban sighed, but was nodding in agreement as they stayed in the bar.

"All we learned is that someone is somewhere between the Mid Rim and the Outer Rim planning something." Riley said as Traban shook his head.

"I'd like to think that we gleamed more than that, though if I'm correct in my assumptions." Traban said as Riley snorted.

"Nigga, the Outer Rim is always the spot for galactic events; whether they be legal or not, and they usually are illegal, so that doesn't help us much in narrowing down what could be going on." Riley said as Traban shrugged, sipping at his water since they had to pay the informant all their credits.

"Yes, but there is a major event we know of as of now that has caught the attention of the Supreme Chancellor and the Galactic Republic. In fact, it was in the news our dear informant has left us." Traban said as he tapped at the news data-pad on the table still. Riley looked over at it, and saw that it featured a rather long and large article on Naboo's situation with the blockade.

Riley and Traban rose from their seats as they walked out of the bar. With no food, or money they would have to either contact the Republic (which they both knew that on a Hutt-world could get you shot faster than you could say "Damn") or they would have to find an odd job to do.

Riley blocked Traban's path with a hand as he used the other to point at large holo-screen that displayed two being (a Trandoshan and a Gammorean) fighting in an arena with people literally throwing credit chips as they betted on the outcome. Riley turned to Traban with as Traban could feel Riley's excitement through the Force.

"There's an idea." Riley said as Traban grinned back at him.

"It's a job, and we need money. I'm sure the esteemed Council will forgive us… if they ever hear about this." Traban said as Riley and he ran through the dirt-paved streets, intent o earning their money through bloody knuckles, and lots of ass-kicking.

Damn was being an unorthodox Jedi fun!

It had only been an hour after they found the place, and they couldn't be happier.

"Oh, hell yeah, nigga! I don't give a fuck about being a damn Jedi no more! My black ass is just fine and happy here!" Riley yelled back at Traban while he watched his opponent; a Twi'lek and a damn tough one, crumple to the ground.

"Can we go now?" Traban asked in mock worry as Riley returned to his corner of the arena, drinking the water Traban handed him with a laugh.

"Go? Ha, ha! Nigga, you funny. You know we ain't leaving this bitch until w won it all!" Riley said as Traban joined in on the laugh.

"We're cleaning house, huh?" Traban asked since he enjoyed watching the small Riley take down much bigger opponents. He could survive off the irony and humor for days.

"Nigga, you know it!" Riley said as Traban sighed in amusement. He had placed a few bets on Riley with the very few credits, and now he was holding nearly eighty thousand credits after only five fights.

"We'll have to remember to bring Ben-boy along next time." Traban said as Riley nodded. That damn kid needed to learn how to loosen up, and they were just the two to teach him.

After all they were the Masters after all…

* * *

><p>"Oh, nigga look. They got three of 'em this time." Riley said watching a Gammorean, a Trandoshan, and a Rodian enter the dueling arena. Traban seemed to look on a bit more seriously as he leant over to Riley.<p>

"Be careful, Riley. Something about this doesn't feel right…" Traban said with caution as Riley's look of joy sobered up. He nodded as he felt the suppressor shut down, and looked to where the controller was supposed to be. The damn Quarren that had been controlling it was nowhere to be seen.

Well damn, they were really tryin' to fuck him up…

"Aye, nigga. The suppressors down." Riley whispered as Traban nodded, feeling the shields rise around the arena floor, meaning there was no escape, and that things were about to get heated.

"What do you want me to do? It's your chose, Riles." Traban asked as Riley looked back and grinned at him.

"Nigga, do what we always do; bet high and big on me kicking ass and taking names." Riley said, and with that he was moving to face his much larger opponents. Traban gave a loving sigh at Riley's love for ass-kicking, gambling, and all the things he loved in general.

"I think I've finally fallen in love! Ha!" Traban joked to himself as he bet nearly all their credits on Riley.

Riley had just ducked several blaster shots from the Rodian when he felt a darkened presence in the Force. He used his broken staff (since the damn Trandoshan broke it in half) to knock out the Rodian, and thus eliminated the blasters.

He jumped high and nailed the Trandoshan with a backwards spin kick he had picked up from Ming. He only half expected it to work, and was completely surprised it not only worked, but drove the alien into the arena wall, knocking him out of the fight temporarily.

"Well damn…" Riley said to himself as he rolled picked up the dropped vibro-sword. He glanced about as e saw Traban's eye moving around, a frown on his features as Riley was sure his friend was trying to figure the fight out.

"_I'm not going to draw my lightsaber or my blaster unless I really need to. Until then, I don't have to. The last thing I need to do is get them damn Jedi-Hunters and Bounty-crazed jackass on our case. Huey and Traban would never let me live in down if I did_."Riley thought as he avoided the slow axe swipes from the pig-like creature.

Riley cursed to himself as he saw that the Trandoshan was back up, and had picked up its other blade.

Riley unleashed more curses as he ducked under another axe swipe, and with a slash gutted the Gammorean like the pig it was. He was a little disturbed though as the blade continued through the fat alien's body like a knife through butter. He couldn't focus on his disgust either as he pulled the blade out to block a strike from the Trandoshan, but was knocked back and to the ground by the creature's superior physical strength. He got back to his feet with ease, using the Force to help him push back the lizard-like alien as he did so.

"You three came in here to kill me." Riley whispered harshly to the alien as he and it stalemated in their strikes. He the dark feeling he had from the Force either had been their every intention of ending his life from the moment they entered the arena.

"Why?" Riley demanded as he attacked, several bloody gashes littering the Trandoshan's arms as the being moved back away from him.

"Paid to… You were winning too many fights…. It was… nothing personal." the Trandoshan said in Basic as Riley growled at him. Nothing personal his ass, they had wanted to kill him for one reason or another and were taking great pleasure in it.

"Oh, no… not at all." Riley said, immersing himself in the Force as he continued to do battle against the alien.

"Nothing personal, but my partner over there is getting impatient." Riley said as he spun his blade, knocking the alien's from his scaled hands. Traban did look worried, but Riley actually doubted if he was impatient over the fact that he was still alive and winning.

"Game over." Riley said, kicking the Trandoshan's blade up into his hand and crossing them over the creature's neck, but threw both weapons back as he summoned a large push in the Force and blasted the alien's chest with it, sending the being flying directly into the shield barrier. Being caught between two opposing forces of energy, the Trandoshan didn't stand a chance; as he dropped to the ground a burned mess, yet still alive.

Riley turned to see Traban collecting his- he meant _their_ winnings hurriedly before moving toward him. As the shield dropped Traban moved their levitated a blaster into Riley hands as he gazed at it for whatever reason Traban wanted him to, and after a few moments he saw why.

"This damn thing was set to kill." Riley muttered as Traban nodded.

"I suspected as much, but with that shield up, I couldn't have helped you much. I did increase the power of that kick to the Trandoshan, but it wasn't enough to knock him out for long." Traban said as Riley looked at him in annoyance.

"Damn… and I had thought I was getting super strength or some shit." Riley grumbled with his arms crossed.

"So?" Traban asked as Riley blinked at him.

"What?" Riley replied as they exited the lower level arena.

"Did you have fun?" Traban asked with a smirk as Riley grinned at him.

"A life-threatening situation and the odds stacked against me? Nigga what do you think? That shit was a blast!" Riley said as Traban chuckled at him, "So, how much we rake in?"

"Two hundred and thirty thousand credits! You were an animal out there, and being human made them doubt you'd survive." Traban said as Riley laughed.

"Niggas should know by now that my black ass ain't dying _no_ time soon! And to never bet against Jedi Master Escobar!" Riley said as he pumped a fist in the air and rolled it as he made his own cheering effects. Traban simply laughed at him as he gazed down at the credit chip all their winnings were saved on.

"You know, as Jedi, we're supposed to live a life of poverty." Traban said, reminding his friend as Riley scoffed.

"Nigga please. You already know my black ass need money. What the fuck I look like being poor just cause they asses say so?" Riley said as Traban shook his head.

"Still, it's way more than we can go back with without them taking it from our accounts and putting it into the Jedi Temple cost or something like that…"

"Damn, well… Aye, didn't you say they got refugees here?" Riley asked, remembering the last time he came to the Jedi temple on Ilum with a ton of cash. He still can't believe them mother-fuckers went into his accounts and redirected the money to funding crystal mining in the caves around the planet.

"Yeah, come on." Traban said, already knowing what he was thinking as they moved to the Refugee sector.

* * *

><p>In the hangar of the Federation ship, the Republic cruiser sat idly as the pilot chatted away the time on the holo-phone with his wife to ease his boredom.<p>

Unbeknownst to him, the droids that had once been scuttling about their repetitive programmed tasks had stopped what they were doing, and were moving away from the consular ship.

As the droids were making their escape (not as subtly as they should have), a defense gunner began to slowly lower itself into firing position; its cannons aimed at the Republic cruiser.

In the cockpit, the pilot signed off on his wife and began checking the ship's equipment making small adjustments here and there for the time that they took off. Looking up, the pilot spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head, he came face-to-face with a locked-on laser turret.

Pointed directly at him… Crap… and he had just told his wife that he'd be home late… When she received heaven after him, she'd never let him hear the end of it…

As he thought those final words, the turret fired off three concentrated blasts at the cockpit, cutting through the hull, and setting off a chain reaction that resulted in the complete destruction of the Republic cruiser.

TC-14 entered the conference room while the five Jedi were seated at the table and talking amongst themselves. Huey, out of habit, sniffed the air with his Force-enhanced senses, trying to smell even the faintest poisons, while he watched Jazmine and Qui-Gon do the same while Ming and Cindy were glancing at them. Jazmine was the first to sip her beverage while she gazed out at Naboo, seemingly lost in thought.

"Something wrong?" Huey asked Jazmine from his seat beside her wife as she shook her head.

"No, not really. It's just; the last time I was here was with Riley and Yaddle to help bury one of my Padawan and their mother in their family crypt." Jazmine said somberly as Huey gently took her hand and rubbed it with his thumb.

"Is it in their nature to make us wait this long?" Obi-Wan asked, obvious to the conservation across the table, and seemingly annoyed at the drawn-out nature of the whole mission.

Qui-Gon frowned, his senses picking up much anxiety flowing throughout the ship as Ming scowled at the droid.

"No… no, I sense an unusual amount of fear though, especially for something as trivial as a trade dispute."

"Then…" Ming pressed as Jazmine's saddened look disappeared under one of shock as Cindy saw a shatter-point in the Force.

"It's a trap!" Cindy yelled as she shot up to her feet, the others following as they heard an explosion go off from the hangar, followed by a small hissing noise. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan tensed, their lightsabers already ignited as a mist of some kind entered the room from the vents.

"Gas." Obi-Wan stated as he and Qui-Gon began using the Force to create a air bubble around themselves.

Jazmine sniffed at the poison, recognizing it immediately as one of the more common ones and relaxed since she, and her friends were immune to it. Huey, seeing that she was breathing did the same and saw that he didn't die. Ming and Cindy soon followed as Jazmine reached into her medical pouch and took out a syringe. She poked Qui-Gon with it, ejecting half of the contents into him before she did the same to Obi-Wan with the other half.

"Ow!" Obi-Wan yelped as the gas blocked his view of whatever had stabbed him. He gasped as he realized too late that he took in the gas and once again took in more. Though, the weird part was, that he wasn't dropping dead!

"One shot for more than 100 of the most common poisons. This poison was number ten on the list of poisons I cured with this shot." Jazmine said, though no one could see her, as she put the needle away.

Huey drew his lightsaber and ignited it, Ming doing the same as Cindy reached out with the Force.

"Those sneaky, cowardly bastards! There's a small squadron of battle droids outside the door." Cindy said as Ming rolled her eyes and smirked at Cindy.

"I guess Qui-Gon was right. These negotiations didn't last long." Ming shot back as Cindy glared at her, "And you used to say that I always went looking for trouble. Maybe next time you'll believe me when I say trouble goes looking for all of us." Ming finished as Cindy rolled her eyes as they continued to wait for the doors to open.

* * *

><p>A hologram of Gunray, surrounded by battle droids, appears in the conference room hallway.<p>

"They must be dead by now. Destroy whatever is left of them." The hologram said before fading as the command droid replied with a "roger, roger".

One of the battle droids opened the door as the gas came billowing from the room. The gathered battle droids cock their weapons as a figure stumbled out of the smoke. It was TC-14 carrying an empty tray; jumping in surprise at all the weapons pointed its way.

"Oh, excuse me!"

The protocol droid passed the armed droids, who stood there and let it pass with only mild annoyance. The battle droid with yellow paint on it, designating it as the commander, turned to another battle droid.

"Check it out, Corporal. We'll cover you." The command droid ordered as the corporal droid saluted.

"Roger, roger." the corporal replied.

The poor droid had not even taken two steps before two blades, one a kickball-red and the other a deep ocean-blue, flew through the deadly green mist; slicing the droid Corporal in thirds and returning to unseen individuals, followed by three more individuals igniting their own weapons.

The commander took a step back in programmed fear as he saw the lightsabers, "Uh-oh, blast 'em!"

The command droid had barely got the words out before Qui-Gon's green saber sliced his head clean off, the body clattering to the floor as Huey emerged from the room. He charged headlong into the group of droids as his light-blue saber began deflecting blaster fire while cut a vicious sway through their ranks.

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon quickly followed, deflecting blaster fire back towards the droids as Ming systematically dismembered any droid that crossed her path, arms and legs flying as her light-red lightsaber hacked through the assembled crowd.

Cindy walked out of the cloud, striding forward with a purpose as she used her ocean-blue saber to deflect blaster bolts. Jazmine strolled behind her with her own pink saber ignited but not being used while Huey and Ming cleanly cut through the blasters, torsos, and necks of an unfortunate droid that was not quick enough to get out of their way. Jazmine, seeing droids about to get a blast off at Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, flicked her hand outward as the three of remaining droids were flung across the corridor with such ferocity that, upon impact with the floor, they shattered into parts.

"I don't often do this, but I will _not_ stand by and watch people be hurt." Jazmine said at the looks the others were giving her.

* * *

><p>Alarms sounded off on the bridge of the Trade Federation ship as Gunray turned toward one of his bridge officers.<p>

"What is going on down there?"

"We've lost the transmission, sir." the officer responded. Gunray walked away from the communication wall with his second-in-command.

"Have you ever encountered a Jedi Knight before, sir?" his new second-in-command asked as Gunray shook his head.

"Well, no… not exactly, but I don't think…" Gunray said, but then paused as he turned to one of his crewmen.

"Seal off the bridge." Gunray ordered as the alien nodded.

"Yes, sir." the alien replied as Gunray breathed a sigh of relief. Now those blasted Jedi couldn't possibly-

"That won't be enough, sir." His fellow Nemoidian, Rune Haako, said as he nearly sighed in annoyance.

And the day had started off so well, before this crap!

"I want Droidekas up here at once!" Nute Gunray shouted as he and his second watched the blast doors to the bridge closed tightly, Rune shaking his head.

"We will not survive this." Rune said as Gunray grunted.

Yeah wanna bet he would?

* * *

><p>Qui-Gon, feeling just a bit outdone by his fellow Masters, cut down several more battle droids, a shower of sparks and metal parts flying as the droids met their untimely end. Obi-Wan, feeling the same, raised his hand and sent several battle droids flying into the wall hard before sparking and dying.<p>

They both turn to see Huey and Ming finishing the few remaining droids off, both Jedi impressed as the pair looked like they were dancing (or even fighting!) with each other, their movements in perfect sync with the other as their sabers spun a whirlwind of lost limbs, scorched metal, and sparking wires. The droids were just falling into a heap on the floor before them as Jazmine and Cindy walked up to them muttering about show-offs.

Huey and Ming stood upright as they cut down the last droid, and nodded to Qui-Gon. He nodded in return as he made his way toward the bridge door, slamming his lightsaber into the door. He slowly but surely began carving a hole through the metal plating.

The bridge crew gave pause as a loud hissing noise was heard. They all turned toward the bridge door as a green blade was poking through it. The Nemodians became increasingly worried as the blade began to carve a hole through the durasteel, making the metal falling off in chunks of scorched and twisted steel.

"Close the blast doors!" Gunray yelled out in frantic panic.

A huge, very thick blast door slams shut, followed by a second. There is a loud hissing sound as the doors seal shut around Qui-Gon's blade, the lightsaber already beginning to melt the edges of the blast doors.

That had to have worked!

"That will hold them." Nute Gunray claimed boldly as he turned up his nose.

Qui-Gon paused, hearing the clanking noise of the blast doors closing, before he stabbed deeper into the door again with his lightsaber. Seeing his trouble, Huey joined him and together the two blades begin to melt through the doors faster. A large red spot appeared in the center of the door as even more hunks of molten steel were falling off.

"They're still coming through!" Rune Haako groaned out as he and Gunray watched the door helplessly.

"Impossible! This is impossible!" Nute yelled out in complete disbelief.

And his father had always told him not to fuck with the Jedi…

"Where are those Droidekas?" Rune yelled to one of the techies as the guy shrugged.

Out in the corridor, with Ming, Cindy, and Obi-Wan standing guard, Jazmine stood off to the side while Huey and Qui-Gon were making progress with the blast doors, having nearly penetrated through the final one, when they hear the sound of clanking metal.

Four wheel-like droids rolled down the hallway at top speed, heading straight for the five of them as Huey glanced up and cursed. Just before they reach the end of the corridor, they stopped and un-coiled themselves, revealing two twin blaster cannons in tripod-form, various carbines interconnected with one another allowing a withering assault of blaster bolts to be shot from those cannons. Cindy recognized the design immediately while Ming snarled at the droids. Huey gritted his teeth as he was sure they'd make it just in them. They were nearly through the last one-

"Master, Destroyers!" Obi-Wan shouted out as the four destroyer droids activated their built in deflector shields right before they opened fire on the Jedi-scum.

Blaster bolts flashed as Huey, and the others started deflecting, bolts ricocheting off sabers only to do the same off the shields, destroying the hallway.

"They have shield generators!" Obi-Wan said in surprise, causing Ming and Cindy to roll their eyes as they used their two blades to beat away incoming blasts.

"It's a stand-off. If we stay here, they'll kill us. We need to move. Let's go!" Huey said, knocking a laser into the ceiling above the droids and causing sparks to mess with the robots' shields and sensors.

The five Jedi force-dashed down the corridor, avoiding blaster fire as they continue to move away from the bridge.

The Viceroy and his people watched the spectacle from the security camera smirking at the retreat of the Jedi.

Take that, father!

"See? They are no match for Droidekas." Gunray said in a pleased tone.

"Umm… Sir." One of the bridge-officers said as Gunray and Rune turned to him, "They've gone up the ventilation shaft."

Gunray sighed as he slapped his forehead.

Damn Jedi…

* * *

><p>Several minutes later, Huey and Qui-Gon re-emerged from a large vent-duct into a rather large hanger bay. Huey caught Jazmine and Cindy while Obi-Wan and Ming dropped down on their own. They paused as they saw activity in the hangar, but stopped as they saw the charred remains of the cruiser they had come in on. Huey groaned as he knew that if Traban found out about this, he'd never let him and the others live it down.<p>

They watched from the shadows of large crates as thousands of battle droids were being loaded onto numerous Multi-Troop Transports (MTT's).

"Battle droids… thousands of them." Obi-Wan said in awe at the sheer number of manufactured robots.

"It's an invasion army." Huey hissed in annoyance at the whole damn thing.

"Isn't this an odd play for the Trade Federation to make, though?" Ming pointed out as Cindy nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I mean, they've never really been known for being overly aggressive. In fact, they are the exact opposite. Normally, they'd run away rather than actually fight." Cindy said as Qui-Gon shrugged.

"In any case, we've got to warn the Naboo and get in contact with Chancellor Valorum." Qui-Gon said as Jazmine nodded.

"We'll split up; each of us should stow aboard a separate landing craft, and meet down on the planet." Jazmine suggested as the others nodded to her plan.

"You were right about one thing, Master; the negotiations were short." Obi-Wan joked as Huey, Ming, Cindy, and even Jazmine rolled their eyes at just how lame the joke was.

* * *

><p>"Now this brings back memories." Traban said as he and Riley looked over the various crates that were home to many of the beings in the sector.<p>

Riley looked over the state of men, women and children of numerous species in disinterest, but shivered at the waves of sadness that seeped into the Force from the people.

"In the course of at the least three hundred years, this has remained almost exactly the same." Riley said flippantly, but Traban could feel his true anger at the situation these people were in.

"Yeah you're right, the smell's the same, the crates look a bit newer, and some species I don't recognize, but it's the same." Traban said as they began walking again

"I still don't see why the Republic hasn't done anything about this?" Riley growled as Traban raised a brow, noting the fact that Riley was actually speaking proper English (or Basic, or whatever you wanted to call it in this crazy galaxy).

"It's located in Hutt Space, Riles." Traban said with a shrug, "They don't allow the Republic into their territory without a whole lot of protest. Plus, it's far too costly for them to seek out trouble here. So, they let the Outer Rim worlds fall apart without putting in much, if any, effort into keeping them clean, and stopping the… well, this."

Riley really wished he could argue Traban's points, but he was sure that if anything could be done about it then either Jazmine, Cindy, or Traban could do it. Plus there was the fact that while the Mid-Rim and Core Worlds thrived with security enforcement from most passing JedI or officers, the Outer Rim worlds were mostly ignored do to the JedI base being in the Core Worlds. He could only think about how wrong it was that these (probably) good people were left to stagnate, decay, and eventually die off in their poverty and insufficiency.

"So where do we-?" Riley was asking before Traban jerked on his arm to follow him.

Come on, Riley. We need to find someone." Traban said as Riley looked at him in bewilderment.

"Who?" was all Riley could ask as Traban smirked.

"An old friend." Traban said, tugging at Riley to keep up and follow, "We're going to a place, that shouldn't have been disturbed."

"Huh?" Riley blurted out, completely perplexity (a word he picked up from Cindy, who heard it from Ming, who Traban used in a conversation that he learned from Jazmine, who took it from Huey after an argument they had).

What the hell was going on?

* * *

><p>Back in the command center on the bridge, one of the technicians turned in his chair to regard Viceroy Gunray. "Sir, there is an incoming transmission from Naboo."<p>

"Put it on screen." Gunray said with a nonchalant wave of his hand.

The image of Queen Amidala, the benevolent ruler of Naboo dressed in full royal garb, appeared on the screen as Gunray and Rune jumped in surprise, but hid it under their looks of peaceful old men.

"Ahh, it is Queen Amidala herself." Gunray commented.

"At last, we are getting results." Rune said with a slight bow.

"Once again, you come before us, Your Highness." Gunray said arrogantly as the Queen shot him a look.

"You will not be so please when you hear what I've to say, Viceroy." Queen Amidala replied, "Your trade blockade of our planet has ended. Remove yourself from our space immediately."

Nute turned towards to Rune, completely caught off-guard with this formal declaration and its effects. He turned back to the screen.

"I was not aware… of such failure." Gunray commented as the Queen's regal look didn't ease in the slightest.

"I have just received word that the Chancellor's ambassadors are with you now, and that you have been commanded to reach a settlement." Amidala said as Nute Gunray chuckled.

"I know nothing of any ambassadors. You must be… mistaken, my Lady." Nute said slowly as if speaking to a child.

Which he was!

Amidala's eyes hardened at the condescending tone in his voice. He had nearly flinched back, but remembered that he had a Dark Lord on his side, and soon Naboo would be his.

"Beware, Viceroy. The Federation has gone too far this time." Amidala said as she sent him a chilling look.

"We would _never _do_ anything _without the approval of the Senate." the Viceroy replied as he gave a humble look of pitiful cowardice (he had heard that he was quite famous for it), "You assume too much."

"We will see." Queen Amidala said in parting words as her image dissolved from the screen. Both Gunray and Rune seemed in a panic of what to do as Rune Haako turned to Viceroy Gunray.

"She's right. The Senate will never-"Rune started, but Gunray rounded on him.

"It's too late, now!"

"Do you think she suspects an attack?"

"I don't know… but we must move quickly to disrupt all communications down there. We cannot let a word of this get back to the Senate, or we are finished."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, on the planet's surface, in the capital city of Theed, the Queen and her council were having discussion with their representative Senator, Palpatine.<p>

"The negotiations haven't started because the ambassadors aren't there?" The holo-image of Senator Palpatine asked in confusion. The Queen nodded as he looked even more confused.

"How could that be true? I have assurances from the Chancellor that his ambassadors _did _arrive."

Sitting around the holo-imager was the assembled council of Naboo, the queen positioned at the head of the gathering as she looked pensively.

Suddenly, the hologram of the Naboo Senator began to waver and skip.

"Senator Palpatine?" Queen Amidala queried, confused as to why the image all of a sudden started becoming unclear. The words of the Senator became distorted and unrecognizable, and before long the connection was severed completely.

"What's happened?" the Queen asked to her council.

Captain Panaka, head of her security, turned to one of his soldiers.

"Check the transmission generator."

As the man moved to comply, one of the assembled councilmen spoke up, "A communications disruption can mean only one thing… invasion."

Queen Amidala immediately dismissed it, "The Federation would not dare go that far."

Panaka agreed, "The Senate would revoke their trade franchise, and they would be finished."

Amidala nodded as she wanted to upstain from violence, "We must continue to rely on negotiation."

The same councilmen scoffed at her naivety and youth, "Negotiation? My Lady, we've lost all communications. And where are the Chancellor's ambassadors?"

Panaka stepped forward, seeming to understand the implications of these recent actions as he gazed about the room with critical care, "This _is_ a dangerous situation, Your Highness. Our security volunteers would be no match against a battle-hardened Federation army."

Amidala merely looked around the room, catching the eye of every individual present. "I _will not_ condone a course of action that will lead us to war."

* * *

><p>In the space orbiting Naboo, hundreds of landing crafts proceed to fly toward the surface of the planet, each flanked by a squadron of droid star-fighters. On one of the many, a very bored Huey Freeman wasted no time in basically slaughtering the many droids about him. He was sure that by now Ming had done just that and had probably started on the next three in her own boredom.<p>

"If anyone is listening, I'm not paying for this." Huey said aloud as he kicked a droid head away from his feet.

"_You broke them already, didn't you_?" a voice inside his head said with a large amount of amusement. He growled as the voice only seemed to laugh at him for the act.

Damn Cindy and for Force-telepathy…

"Yeah, well… it's not my fault nothing their the enemy." Huey said indignantly as he tried hard to ignore Cindy's mocking laughter at him.

"_Yes, well in any case, you did good, but Ming did it as soon as the ships took off. Then she moved on to another, and another… and another… I think she's on her twelfth now… Anyways, it's one less group to deal with on the surface. I've advised the others to do the same, and even Jazmine has consented to the idea. Good luck, Hue-man the Droid Killer. Ha_!"

Oh, damn Cindy and her mocking laughter…

Huey sighed as he leaned against the wall. He picked up a droid's head, mentally chuckling as he was reminded of Shakespeare.

"You know… umm… Bob! Yeah, Bob… So, you know Bob, for something that's designed for war, you all break real easily." Huey said, crushing the head in his hand with the Force and tossing it over his shoulder.

Great, now he was bored again…

He decided, this time, to have a look around. After all, he now practically owned the ship since the only droids he had left alive were the ones piloting the thing.

It was good to be "Droid Killer Huey Freeman"…

* * *

><p>Naboo was just as beautiful as she remembered.<p>

Jazmine stood upon a high branch and watched as the other drop-ships unloaded their armies. She could tell that since a large amount of the tanks didn't move after they were dropped and some ships crashed over the horizon Ming had been busying herself ever since they entered fresh air and maybe even before then. She did sometimes wonder how Ming picked up on Traban's Instant Transmission move, but shrugged it off since she had no use for it and Ming was using it to great effect.

Suddenly, Jazmine's eyes widened and she looked off in a direction as the Force warned her about something. She leapt from her branch and took off in the trees to get to the source of the disturbance. She had only just got there when Obi-Wan ducked down while Qui-Gon's green lightsaber deflected large blaster-fire back at the STAP or Single Trooper Aerial Platform-riding battle droids, causing one to careen into a tree, and explode upon impact. The second droid didn't learn from the first one's demise, and fired as well only to have it's bolts deflected back at it, catching it directly in the engine and exploding as charred pieces rolling off into the underbrush.

It was then that Jazmine noticed a Gungan standing up behind the Jedi Knight. She jumped down to the other as she smiled at both the blinking Obi-Wan and the stunned Qui-Gon.

"Umm.. Are you two okay?" Jazmine asked as they simply stared at her.

"You attacked a local!" Qui-Gon said as Jazmine blinked in surprise.

"What? No, I didn't." Jazmine said as Qui-Gon pointed at her feet. She looked down, and blinked as she saw that the Gungan from before was sprawled out underneath her boots.

"Heh, heh… Oh… Sorry…" Jazmine chuckled nervously while she got off the poor alien. Her laugh became even more embarrassed as Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow at her.

A snort drew their attention as Ming was laughing from the branch she was sitting on.

"Oh yes, Jazmine; stomp on the _dangerous_ Gungan. It's the most _threatening_ thing around here since that _one_ squirrel died." Ming joked as Jazmine threw her a dirty look.

"That was one time!"

"Master, what's a squirrel?"

"I have no clue, my Padawan, but I have a feeling we'll know at some point."

"Yes, Gungans are a threat. Remember, Ming? That one time you stole one of their fish." Huey's voice lofted over the scene as he came from the bushes, picking branches and other earthly things from his afro.

Back-flipping off the branch, Ming landed next to Huey. She held out her hand, and Obi-Wan's lightsaber was in her hand the next moment.

"Hmm… water-damage, huh? Don't feel too bad, Ben. I used to go through lightsabers like Huey goes through sarcastic comments… Well, maybe not nearly as much, but you get my point." Ming said with a sly smile aimed at Huey as he growled at her cheap shot, "Luckily this is easy to fix now. When we get a free moment back at the temple, have Traban make a few modifications to it…" Ming said, trailing off as she took apart young Obi-Wan's lightsaber.

After separating the hilt and the top, she opened up the casing. She removed some individual parts, and blew on them to dry them out as she simultaneously used the Force to take water off the parts. She put it back together, and with it signature sound, the blue-blade weapon came to life. She deactivated it, and levitated it back to the embarrassed Padawan, who chuckled nervously as he grabbed his saber from the air.

They heard a grumble below them, and saw the now conscious Gungan getting up from his dirt nap.

"Messa wanna-" the Gungan began, but Huey waved a hand in front his face, making the Gungan's eyes became vacant.

"Should we?" Huey asked as he glanced at Ming and Jazmine.

"I say we send the poor thing home before Jazmine the Gungan-Masher wants to hurt him more. And you call yourself a doctor of peace…" Ming said as Jazmine rolled her eyes.

"He could be useful… but getting him involved would be a bad thing." Jazmine said as Huey nodded.

"You will go home, and forget any of this encounter ever happened. You will be careful, and warn your people of the incoming battle droids." Huey said as the Gungan nodded absently, its ears flopping about as it rushed off to do what it had been suggested to.

"Couldn't we have used him to find our way out of this jungle?" Obi-Wan asked after the Gungan had left.

"Forest, and besides it's more of a hassle than its worth." Huey said as he glanced at Ben, "Also the Gungans don't trust outsiders, and I doubt that's changed in the last three hundred years." Huey finished with a sigh as Jazmine nodded.

"…especially with how aristocratic the Naboo are…" Jazmine said quietly as Huey's gaze softened on her.

"Since we've taken out about thirty of their ships and cargo, we can salvage a few speeders from one of them and use that to get to Theed." Ming suggested as Huey suddenly looked at them with a grin.

"Oh no…" Jazmine groaned out, putting her head in her hand as Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were confused.

"Oh yes, I'm on it." Huey said, pulling out a com-link as Qui-Gon raised a brow.

"Now I'm not as skilled as Traban or Riley at these things, but I do manage to stumble through a few ideas of my own once and a while." Huey said as he puffed out his chest.

"What is it this time?" Jazmine asked in exasperation while Huey cleared his throat.

"Bob, would you be a sport and bring the car around." Huey said into the device in a pompous proper tone as the others turned to a rumbling from their side.

One of the droid tanks came crashing through the underbrush, before grinding to a halt in front of them while Huey watched it with a smug smile. Jazmine turned toward him, and raised an eyebrow as she gestured to the thing.

"Should I even _ask_ what you've been doing in your boredom to have come up with _this_?" Jazmine asked as Huey gave her an impassive look.

"No." Huey replied blankly as Jazmine started shaking her head.

Jazmine and Ming patted his cheek as they climbed up toward the hatch, opening it to reveal the augmented-droid inside of the tank. It immediately poked its head out and stared eye-to-eye with the two females as Jazmine blinked and sighed again.

"Droid-" Jazmine began as Huey shook his head.

"Bob." Huey corrected in an insisting tone as Jazmine pinched the bridge of her nose in an attempt to calm herself.

"Fine…Bob leave" Jazmine said as the droid saluted her.

"Roger, Roger." The battle droid replied, climbing out and stepped towards a tree.

"Good job, caddy. Power down, Bob." Huey said as he smirked at Jazmine's evident frustration.

"Roger, Roger." Bob replied deactivating himself as he slumped against a tree trunk.

The five Jedi climbed aboard the tank as Jazmine took out a planetary map she had brought with her. The others had gathered around her as she pointed at a point on it that was labeled as the passage of Theed.

"We'll need to cut through here to beat the army to Theed."

"No, we're too late. Look here." Qui-Gon said as he pointed to the capital city. Jazmine brought it up.

"They've already taken control of the city? Wow, they really planned this invasion well." Jazmine commented.

"We can use the tank to sneak in with the rest of the army. We need to grab the queen, and sneak out without anyone the wiser." Jazmine said as Obi-Wan looked at her.

"Why?"

"Because they want her to probably sign their trade agreement to take control of the planet legally. If the Senate had proof that they invaded Naboo before the treaty, then they take away the Federation's trade franchise." Jazmine explained as Ben's eyes swirled with the political mumbo-jumbo.

"And this is why you're a Jedi, kid." Ming said as Jazmine slapped her on the arm.

"You know, I've always wanted to rescue a princess." Huey said as Jazmine crossed her arms and gave him a look.

"That was Traban who always wanted to rescue a princess, and it's a Queen we're saving anyway. You and Traban, I swear…"

"What? He's not here, and I want things not to be so tense… Where's Cindy?" Huey shrugged, but then looked around and noticed that their blond-headed friend/sister wasn't their.

"_Oh, so _now_ you people remember me_." Cindy's voice sounded in their minds as Ming and Jazmine gave a nervous chuckle.

"Sorry Cins…" Jazmine and Ming said as Cindy sighed.

"_I'm already in Theed. Just get here and we'll save the Queen together_." Cindy said as they all gave her their agreement.

"I want to ask about that, but I think I'll do so after this is all over with." Qui-Gon said as Huey glanced away from him when he said that.

"Never wait for what may never come…" Huey muttered to himself, but Qui-Gon overheard him.

"Huh?"

"Nothing!" Huey said quickly as Ming snorted from the pilot's seat. Huey quickly joined her in the tank as he brought the systems online.

Qui-Gon merely blinked in confusion before shrugging it off as nothing.

It wasn't like he was gonna die anytime soon… right?

* * *

><p>Cindy sighed peacefully as the waterfalls of Theed sparkled brilliantly in the mid-day sun. The city was seemingly out of some picturesque romance novel. What with its billowing clouds that framed the body of water while it cascades downward to collect in a shimmering pool of crystal clear waters. Were she here under better circumstances, and Riley or Traban along with her, it would make for a very romantic setting that she could enjoy.<p>

Cindy jerked up from her resting place as a droid tank came from around the corner and under the architectural overhangs. The tank halted to a stop, and through the viewports, her friends and the Master-Padawan pair looked out at the city from across the river.

"Hasn't really changed in appearance from four thousand years ago." Cindy said to herself as she watched her friends.

The Jedi begin to climb out of the tank. As they finished disembarking, a lone battle droid stepped out of the nearby foliage.

"Drop your weapons." The droid stated as Huey turned on it with a roll of his eyes. He was about to lop it's head off, when he noticed that Cindy was casually walking up behind it with her un-ignited lightsaber in hand.

"I said drop 'em!" the droid ordered again as Huey glanced back to see Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan with their sabers out, about to turn them on as they watched Cindy as well.

Cindy sighed as she stepped up to the driod, tapping it on it's shoulder before it turned around to her. She quickly ignited her saber and cut off it's arms before it could even get off a blaster shot at her. She then cocked back her left arm, and gathered the Force in the palm of her hand before slamming the miniature bomb of energy into the droid's chest. The attack sent the robot flying into the nearby river where the current carried it over the waterfall to the rocks below.

Cindy turned to look at the group before her with a mildly irritated expression as she dusted her hands off.

"That is what's gonna happen if you people ever forget me ever again." Cindy said firmly as they all nodded quickly to her threat.

Cindy turned up her nose to them and turned from them as she began walking toward the bridge leading to the city. As the others followed her, Obi-Wan looked from where the droid had been moments ago, back to the waterfall it had gone over. He gulped as he tucked on the robed sleeve of his Master. Qui-Gon turned to him with a curious expression, since he rarely ever saw Obi-Wan so… unnerved.

"Master, I have a favor to ask of you." Obi-Wan stated slowly as he kept glancing from the path and the waterfall.

"What is it, Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon replied as he was quite interested to hear what his Padawan had to ask.

"Whatever may happen in the future, I beg of you; don't ever let me anger Master McPhearson enough for her to do _that_ to me. I… I'm not quite sure I'd survive it." Obi-Wan said as Qui-Gon nodded, though looked at the waterfall in afterthought as they pasted it.

"On one condition, my young Padawan." Qui-Gon responded as it was Obi-Wan's turn to look curious.

"And what would that be, Master?" Obi-Wan asked as Qui-Gon laid a hand on his Padawan's shoulder while they walked.

"That you'll do the same thing for me." Qui-Gon said as Obi-Wan smiled while they shook hands, sealing the deal to never allow the other to anger the blonde-female Jedi Master.

The six Jedi carefully slip around the city streets and alleys, avoiding the droid patrols with only a few close-calls. They had finally reached the inner-city plaza, just in time to see the Queen, her handmaidens, advisors, and guards being escorted out of the palace by ten battle droids.

With quieted jumps and well placed footing, they reached a higher walkway above the prisoner transfer. Ming pulled her lightsaber from her belt as she readied it for battle while Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan nodded to one another.

The group of battle droids were leading the Queen and her company through a side passage, away from the droid and tank-infested Central Plaza of the city. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan wait for the droids to near their position before leaping down, igniting their sabers and catching the leading battle droids off-guard. Ming soon after flipped down to join in the fray and the droids, not having the time to react, were knocked down with a double heel kick from the Asian Jedi Master. The two attacked droids fell backward to the ground, sparking from shorted circuits before shorting out all together. Now that the others were aware of the ambush, the remaining battle droids start firing their rifles, doing their best to protect their high-value prisoners from being rescued by the Jedi.

Leaping down as well, Huey ignited his own ghost blue blade, mimicking Ming by carving a swath of destruction through the platoon of ten. The commanding droid, seeing his troops being slaughtered right before his optical-circuits, grabbed his radio and brought it to his faceplate.

"Alert, alert! We are under attack! Send backup, roger, roger!" the droid yelled into the radio… or at least it thought it had, because when no response came it looked down to see that its hand and arm were gone, severed at the forearm and taking the radio with it. It looked around and saw Ming smirking at it with her light-red saber in one hand, its severed arm (plus its radio) in the other. She wagged her index finger back and forth as she shook her hand, walking up to the droid like a predator stalking its prey.

"Tsk, tsk… You should know better than try and call for others. This is our party, and it's a _very_ exclusive gathering." Ming said, before simply impaling the fearful droid with her saber, embedding the red blade fully into its chest. When the droid went slack, she yanked the blade out before deactivating it as the droid fell to the ground.

"That's… the last of them." Qui-Gon said, a little intimidated by the way she had killed the droid in such a… Sith way.

"For machines that are purposely designed for heavy combat, they build them quite fragily. Especially when they know these buckets of bolts may do battle against Jedi." Ming quipped, kicking the downed commander as Huey shrugged and raised up his hands.

"Preaching to the choir, my sister." Huey said as Cindy and Jazmine jumped down from the overhead walk way.

"I think it's quantity over quality. The more they have, the longer the battle will draw out. So, their main purpose isn't true battle, but more of…" Cindy said trailing off as she tried to find the right word.

"Cannon fodder?" Obi-Wan supplied as Cindy snapped her fingers and nodded.

"Yeah, cannon fodder! Thanks, Ben!" Cindy said as Obi-Wan's eyebrow twitched from the nickname.

"We should get out of here. No telling what could be lurking about if we simply stay in the streets." Qui-Gon said as he and the others moved the Queen and her surprised group to the safety of a nearby alley.

* * *

><p>"Your Highness, we are the ambassadors that were sent on behalf of the Supreme Chancellor." Jazmine said in introduction as she and the others bowed to her.<p>

"Well, your negotiations seemed to have failed, Master Jedi." said an elderly statesman named Bibble as Jazmine shook her head.

"I'm afraid that the negotiations never took place. Your Highness, we must make contact with the Republic." Jazmine said.

"Impossible, they've knocked out all of our communications." Captain Panaka, of the Queen's Royal Guard, said as he stepped forward.

"Do you have transports?" Huey asked from where he stood next to Ming and Cindy.

"They're in the main hanger." Panaka said, gesturing with his hand for everyone to follow, "It's this way."

The hallway outside the main hanger was angled, so the group used the cover to spy into the hangar. Qui-Gon and Huey peered over Panaka's shoulder as the rest of the large group waited behind them. They were able to see several Naboo spacecrafts, all guarded by a large number of battle droids; maybe thirty to fifty of the things.

"There are too many of them." Panaka said with a frown.

"That won't be a problem." Qui-Gon said quickly, sharing a look with Huey and Ming, before letting his gaze move over to the Queen.

"Under the circumstances, Your Highness, I suggest you come with us to Coruscant." Qui-Gon said as Jazmine and Cindy exchanged looks.

The Queen looked at Qui-Gon, her dark gaze never leaving his as she replied, "Thank you ambassador, but my place is here, with my people-"

"They will kill you if you stay." Cindy interjected as Jazmine rolled her eyes.

"They wouldn't dare!" Bibble said in surprise as Ming scoffed at him.

"How can you be so naïve at your age?" Ming said as Huey raised a brow at her before she realized what she said and face-palmed herself with a sigh.

"They need her to sign a treaty to make this invasion of theirs legal in the courts. They can't afford to kill her." Panaka interjected as Jazmine nodded her head in agreement, Cindy shook his head.

"There are far worse things to do to someone other than kill them. Torture is but one, and yet it's most common." Cindy said as Qui-Gon felt the need to interrupt before the blonde could unnerve the Naboo councilmen and guards even more.

"The situation here is not what it seems. There is something else behind all this, Your Highness. There is no logic in the Trade Federation's move here. My feelings tell me they will destroy you." Qui-Gon said as Bibble, who was steadily unnerved by the conversational talk of torture and the Queen's death, looked at her with fear evident on his face.

"Please, Your Highness, reconsider. Our only hope is for the Senate to side with us. Senator Palpatine will need your help in getting it." Bibble said as Panaka shook his head.

"Getting past their blockade is impossible. This course of action will expose you to a greater risk." Panaka said as Ming crossed her arms.

"Any escape has the potential to be dangerous. It's what you do with your chance to get away that matters." Ming said as the captain of the Queen's guard shot her a look, but Ming didn't notice as she was looking into the hanger.

"I will stay here, and do what I can. They will have to retain the Council of Governors in order to maintain control, but Your Highness must leave." Bibble said as the Queen turned to her handmaidens, specifically the one on her direct right Huey, Jazmine, and Cindy noticed as well as Qui-Gon, though he wasn't exactly sure why.

"Either choice presents a great risk… to all of us." the Queen said as she looked at the one on her right, who looked unfazed by the mention of danger.

"We are brave, Your Highness." the handmaiden said as the Queen nodded to her.

"If you are to leave Your Highness, it must be now." Qui-Gon said, feeling the Force warning him of intimate danger.

"Then I will plead our case before the Senate." the Queen said as she turned a kind look to Bibble, "Do be careful, Governor." she said, not seeing the look Jazmine and Cindy were giving her and her handmaidens.

"Do you think…" Cindy said, leaning over to Jazmine as Jazmine nodded.

"Yes, I mean, it has happened before." Jazmine said as Cindy and her exchanged a look and shrugged in unison.

* * *

><p>"Okay, I take back what I said when we first got here. <em>This<em> place smells worse than a muckworm's ass. It's like a… _damn_, I can't even _think_ of something with this smell!" Riley said as Traban shot him a look. They well below the moon's surface, and still descending lower as Traban led the way. He moved with no true haste as it seemed like he knew where he was going.

Riley held his favorite pistol-style blaster in his hand and at the ready as they moved about the maze-like catacombs below the surface. Traban was about to shoot back a comment for Riley's earlier quip, but didn't as they stopped outside of a large set of blaster doors.

Riley sighed as he looked at the control panel, running his finger along it as he wiped away a thick coating of dust from the panel.

"Well?" Traban asked patiently as Riley turned to him and showed Traban his finger.

"This panel has been out of use for a long ass time. Plus, the wires beneath are cut, which mean it's been dead for just as long. It'll probably take awhile to cut through." Riley said as Traban raised a brow.

"Yeah, or we could just shatter-point it." Traban said as Riley grinned.

"Oh! Let me do it! Cindy been teaching me how to do it for about a few years now, and I finally mastered it. Watch." Riley said as he closed his eyes and ran his fingers along the door, letting himself get lost in the Force while focusing on the door. It wasn't long before he saw it. He quickly moved his hand to it and used the Force to blow the door apart with a loud explosion.

"Must you be so noisy? What if someone heard that?" Traban said as the dust and debris from the door's explosion settled after he used the Force to make it do so.

"Then we would just kick they ass." Riley said with a grin as stepped through the opening and stopped. Traban raised a brow as he watched Riley sniff the air and gag.

"Eh! It's all stale and shit! I don't think anyone's been here for over three hundred or so years." Riley said as Traban stepped in next to him and nodded.

"That's just what I was hoping for." Traban replied as Riley gave him a look.

"What do you mean by that?" Riley asked as Traban ignored the question while he tried to remember the way.

"I think… yes, it's this way." Traban said, pointing toward the left corridor as he walked, with Riley beside him.

"I can sense traps… and a lot of death. A lot of beings died down here." Riley said, slightly unnerved by the overwhelming presence of dead entities he was feeling.

"Yeah, I was a long time ago before Huey and I returned to the Jedi Order. I had to kill a Hutt here, and take control of the moon for a short time. I discovered this place when the Hutt used a trapdoor in the cantina above to try and kill me." Traban said as Riley looked at him in surprise. He and the others had never heard of that, but then again, Huey and Traban didn't talk much about what they did during their time away from the Jedi Order.

Riley was about to ask Traban to go on with the story, but something caught his eye, and when he actually saw what had he stopping altogether.

"What is it, Riley?" Traban asked as Riley went wide-eyed.

"What in the _hell_… Of all the crazy shit… is _that_ what I _think_ it is?" Riley said, pointing through a glass window to an arena below.

"Huh? Oh… Oh! Yeah, that's a rancor, and an old one at that, dude." Traban said as he gazed at the rancor.

"Nigga, that damn thing is still alive!" Riley said as Traban shrugged.

"Look up, Riley. See those lines on the ceiling? Trapdoors." Traban said as he pointed to the many hidden trapdoors on the ceiling.

"I bet one of them leads to the Jek-Jek Tar. They probably toss bodies down here after a fight to dispose of evidence. They probably also don't even know what's here." Riley said, his shock and awe at the rancor forgotten.

"Yeah, plus the beastie most likely spent long periods hibernating, seeing as it looks like it hasn't been fed in quite some time." Traban said as he and Riley continued to look down into the arena, analyzing the decrepit old bones of fallen victims.

"Well, I guess-"

"We'll have to either sneak past it, or kill it." Traban said as Riley gave him a look.

"Whoa, _whoa_, nigga! _Kill it_? Ain't that a little _extreme_? I mean, _look_ at the damn thing! It's old and shit." Riley said, having some measure of pity for the aged creature since it was probably older than they were.

"Well, I need what's in that room." Traban shot back as Riley looked between him and the rancor. Finally he sighed in defeat as he crossed his arms and fixed Traban with a look.

"Fine! How do you suppose we get past it?" Riley said as Traban sighed.

"We don't have any grenades, so we'll have to do this the hard way. Though since you're so bent on not killing it, I'll settle for knocking it unconscious and letting it guard any tresures we wish to hide here. Okay?" Traban said as Riley nodded with a smirk.

"Can I fight it then?" Riley asked as Traban shot him a look.

"No, you fought in the Jek-Jek Tar, so now it's my turn." Traban replied as Riley rolled his eyes.

"Fine! Be a little bitch then, but don't come bitching to me when yo ass a stain on the ground." Riley said as Traban merely laughed at him.

"I won't, and you're the best wife-y ever." Traban said mockingly as he jumped away from Riley's ignited green saber with a bark of laughter.

Riley muttered curses as Traban landed at the entrance and pressed the hatch release, watching as the doors opened with rumbling and screeching sounds from long inactivity. The rancor was awakened by the noise, and yawned (or at least, Riley assumed the grumbled roar was a yawn), before it got up on its stubby legs. It seemed to glare at Traban's smiling face for having disturbed its peaceful slumber, but licked its lips as it must have realized he could be food. Riley moved to the shadows of the arena, his blaster ready to shoot the rancor's already identified shatterpoint if Traban got into trouble handling it.

* * *

><p>Riley walked up to Traban as they both gazed down at the unconscious rancor.<p>

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" Riley asked as Traban glanced at him with a smirk.

"What? It _roared_ at _me_. I just wanted it to know that simply because it was _bigger_ than me, didn't mean I couldn't defeat it. Just because it's teeth are the size of my body doesn't mean a thing." Traban said as Riley shook his head while Traban moved on.

They both approached the door as Traban waved his hand, triggering the door's release as they stepped through.

"Hmm… well, I'll be damned. They're all still here." Traban said once the lights of the room flickered on. Taking another step into the room, he stopped as a holocron on the floor sensed a living presence in the room and sprang to life.

"My goodness… Mast Anko." Traban gasped, seeing the image of his former Jedi Master.

"Hey, Squirt. I knew you would come back." Anko Tao said as she smiled at him and Riley, "I never doubted it for a second."

"Well, you've seen better days, Master." Traban said as his eyes gazed over the silver hair and wrinkles that he had not seen last time he had opened his Master's holocron.

"Yes, it would seem that this holocron has been updated to be in conjuction with my last. That must mean that someone has opened my final holocron and been through it for this one to have been updated as such." Anko said as Traban crossed his arms.

"But who?" Riley asked as Trabn narrowed his eyes.

"One of those damned Council members probably. That means they've… been in my vault… Oh shit!" Traban said as Anko snorted in laughter.

"Ha! Still keeping porn in that think for those lonely nights, huh?" Anko teased as Traban coughed and Riley snickered.

"Oh this is good." Riley said as he thought of all the blackmail material he could get on Traban from his former Master.

"I have never kept porn in my vault. Though the things I have kept in there over the years I wish was porn if someone's been rummaging through it." Traban said as Anko's face turned serious.

"What have you kept in there?" Anko asked seriously as Traban looked at her.

"Dark things. Not nearly all of them, or even a fourth of my possessions, but enough that could get me into a shouting match with the Council and a resulting headache from them as well." Traban said as Anko nodded, but she smirked somewhat as her eyes landed on Riley. She placed her hands on her hips and swayed in place as Riley tried to keep his gaze above her chin.

"And who is this handsome little man, huh? Not one of those Harem Boys you had back when I was alive, I hope." the Anko-holocron asked as Traban coughed heavily while Riley sputtered out nonsense and his face went red. Anko's image merely doubled over in laughter while her former Padawan and his friend were too shocked and appalled to do anything.

No! And I had servants, not Harem Boys! This is just Riley, goddamnit! Remember, you shriveled up old prune, my little half-brother and Huey's little brother! Goddess, you're sick!" Traban said as Riley went to making gagging and vomiting sounds.

"Well, can't blame a girl for trying to see some hot guy-on-guy, right? Yo there, little Riley. I remember you now. You were the one that passed out after you saw me in the shower naked while we had that joint mission to Dagobah." Anko said as Riley's red face went ever darker.

"Er… what's up." Riley replied awkwardly, trying very hard to suppress the color in his face. Anko always had a way of making him uneasy.

"It has been a long time since my image has been called forth in this particular holocron, and there are messages recorded in here for you, Traban. Listen to them at your leisure, but for now you two had best be going."

"Why did you put her? Or rather, her holocron?" Riley asked as Traban glanced at him, and then back at the image of his former Master, seeing her curious look as well. He sighed in defeat as they both smirked, knowing that they could get him to do just about anything for them.

"It was a "on the run" idea since I was being hunted as a Sith Lord at the time. After I killed the Hutt that owned this moon, I thought I'd come back to Nar Shadda at one point or another to solidify my rule over this stupid rock. Considering my… less than impressive track record, I guess I was right about the idea when I hid my possessions here." Traban said as Riley and Anko nodded.

"How long has passed since my death?" Anko asked conversationally as Riley shivered. He always hated how the holocrons of Masters would speak about their own deaths as if conversing about the weather. Thankfully, Anko had died of old age rather than being cut down in battle.

"Over six hundred years, my Master." Traban said sadly as Anko laughed.

"Then I'm afraid the_ Falcon_ must be gone, huh?" Anko said as Traban shrugged, and then snapped his fingers. He walked over to a wall with shelves on it and picked up a capsule that he showed to Riley and Anko.

"Nope, it's right here… I think…" Traban said, trying to get a closer look at the capsule before shrugging and pocketing the thing.

"Good, now collect this holocron, and all your other crap. We'll speak more when you get a free moment, but now is not the time." Anko's image said as Traban and Riley nodded.

"Thank you, Master. I've missed you, you know." Traban said as Riley raised a brow.

"Miss ya too, brat." Anko said before she stuck out her tongue at him (even though she looked about sixty years old) with the holocron shutting itself down. Riley picked it up while Traban went around collecting all the capsules in the room and storing them in a bag.

"Let's get off this forsaken rock. I'll be back to take control of it and my other planets later." Traban said as Riley grinned.

"Go help me take back mine?" Riley asked as Traban glanced back at him with a smirk.

"Now why would you want me to do that? You've always had more fun doing the conquests by yourself." Traban said as Riley's grin grew.

"I know, but I just needed to be sure you didn't get in my way." Riley said as Traban laughed.

"You know, Riley dearest, I could always…"

"No, dammit!" Riley said, his face flushed as he knew what Traban was about to say.

"Just checking." Traban said as he ran, Riley hot on his heels as the younger Jedi yelled about how he was gonna murder the older one.

* * *

><p>Back on Naboo, the doors to the main hanger opened as Ming and Huey lead the way with Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Cindy, and Jazmine escorting the Queen, Captain Panaka, two other guards and three Handmaidens. They broke off with the Queen and headed for the sleek chrome spacecraft. Behind them at the door, Bibble and the remaining handmaidens and guard, looking distressed as they watched the others march forward into the hanger.<p>

"We need to free those pilots." Panaka as he leant over to Qui-Gon, pointing toward where twenty guards, ground crew, and pilots were being held prisoner in a corner by several battle droids.

"I'll take care of that." Obi-Wan said with Ming following him toward the group of captive workers.

Huey and Qui-Gon led the Queen and the others as they were approached by a droid guard at the ramp of the Naboo ship.

"Halt! Where are you taking them?" the droid demanded as Cindy rolled her eyes.

"We are the ambassadors for the Supreme Chancellor. We're taking these people to Coruscant." Qui-Gon said as the droid took on a confused look (if it's rubbing it's nonexistent chin was any indication) while Huey and Jazmine shared a look.

"Where are you taking them?" the droid asked again as Cindy sighed loudly, folding her arms as she tapped her foot impatiently, making Jazmine giggle at her antics.

"To Coruscant." Qui-Gon repeated as the droid searched it's memory for any mention of the planet.

"Coruscant… uh… Does not compute… uh, wait, uh…You're under arrest!" The command-droid said as the droids behind it were bringing up their weapons, the commander pointing its own at Qui-Gon.

Before the weapons could even fire, the droids were cut down as Qui-Gon's and Huey's lightsabers snap to life. Qui-Gon sliced off the commanding droid's arm before decapitating it while Huey's blade slashed the necks of the three droids behind the commander in a wide arc, shearing heads from bodies in a quick and clean manner.

As the two Masters cut their way through the droids guarding the spaceship, Ming and Obi-Wan were demolishing the droids guarding the captured pilots and guards. Ming barking for them to get out of the way while Obi-Wan went offensive, as more droids start to appear from around the hangar. Obi-Wan's blue lightsaber whirling as it deflected blaster fire from nearly all angles.

Ming, meanwhile, was in the thick of it battle, slicing off arms, legs, blaster tips, and heads. Tossing her lightsaber at a droid commander, the red blade hit its mark mere seconds before the yellow-painted droid grabbed its radio, slicing through the limb and carving through its upper torso before returning to the Asian Jedi Master, who back-flipped away in order avoid a barrage of blaster fire. She landed in the middle of the group of droids, deactivating her saber as she brought her hands toward her body. She gathered the Force around her, and as quickly as she did she expelled it in a repulsive blast of energy.

Obi-Wan looked up as droid parts begin to rain down all around him, avoiding some and slicing though others as he looked to where they all came from. He saw Master Ming with her limbs outstretched as he could still feel the ripple in the Force she caused. Obi-Wan nearly shouted for her to get down as a lone droid aimed at her back, but sighed in relief when he saw the blast being deflected by her re-ignited lightsaber, deflecting the shot back at the droid and taking its head clean off.

Huey and Qui-Gon were already in the process of rushing people aboard the Naboo spaceship while others ran to Bibble and his group. After everyone had gotten aboard (Huey making sure all his group had gotten on, especially Cindy), Huey and Qui-Gon rushed up the ramp as it sealed behind them. Even inside the ship they could here alarms sounding, and saw droids rushing into the hanger as the ship lifted off. The droids had opened fire, but thankfully the deflector shields were absorbing the rain of blasts with no problem while the starship took off out of the hanger.

The sleek spacecraft speeded away from the planet of Naboo in record time, heading straight into… the Trade Federation blockade. Huey cursed as the pilot began navigating toward the massive battleships. Behind him, Qui-Gon and Panaka were watching, hear the man mutterings as they all waited with baited breath.

"Dammit! The communications are still jammed." the pilot said as Huey sighed in annoyance. These Federation-types were being awfully thorough in their plans… It was obvious that someone else was pulling the strings here, but the real question was; who.

Jazmine smiled as she saw Obi-Wan making sure the Queen was safe and secure. Ming could only rolled her eyes as she turned her bored attention to an adjacent hold, only to see a small room filled with those moving trashcans that were known to all others as Astromech droids. They had spotted her apparently as they all turned toward her and began beeping in what she could only assume was a greeting.

"Aww, they're always so cute." Cindy cooed from over Ming's shoulder as she watched the little things.

"They are not cute. They're little moving trash bins that fix and navigate ships." Ming said furiously as Cindy gave her an annoyed look.

Right when they were about to get into another argument over the droids with Cindy (much like two hundred years ago back when they had met up on Earth) when the ship (which had been jostling slightly know that they paid real attention) suddenly gave a lurch, nearly throwing Cindy off her feet and Ming off balance. Cindy and Ming turned back to the small astromech droid as they formed a line and vanished up a tube.

"Where are they going in such a rush?" Ming muttered as she rubbed her hip, having hit it against the door.

"They're going outside the ship to make repairs. We must have taken some pretty bad damage with that heave just now." Cindy said as Ming looked at her in disbelief.

"But we're in mid-flight." Ming said as Cindy nodded.

"I know, but they've been improved since a hundred years ago." the blonde Jedi replied as she gave a shrug to which Ming returned.

"Damn! The shield generator's down." the pilot cried out as he began flicking switches and turning knobs, "the droids have been deployed to repair it, but with the constant fire we're under who knows if they'll survive long enough to even do so."

"Well, this may not do us much good. We're losing droids. Fast." Qui-Gon said calmly, though the anxiousness in his voice was still heard as he looked at the on-board camera while yet another droid was blasted into scrap-metal.

"If they can't get the shield generator fixed, then we'll be sitting ducks." Panaka commented with a frown as the two remaining droids left was quickly turned to one, a stray laser blast catching the poor astromech droid, sending it screaming into oblivion.

"The shield's completely down." the pilot said as Jazmine was growing worried, "If they manage to hit the cockpit-"

The pilot was cut off by a beeping sound that came from the center console. Everyone watched in amazement as the diagnostics changed rapidly from very bad to very good.

The pilot smiled broadly as he looked at the console in disbelief, "The power's back! He did it! That little droid did it! He bypassed the main power drive!" the pilot exclaimed proudly as he flipped several switches, the shields roaring to life as they began immediately deflecting multiple barrages of laser-cannon fire.

"Deflector shields up at maximum." The pilot said as the screens that had been previously showing error readings changed to clear, green screens. Jazmine, Huey, and Qui-Gon all breathed a sigh of relief in unison before looking at each other and chuckling.

They all turned their attention back to the exterior camera as it showed a lone blue astromech droid finishing the repairs before going back into the ship. Their little ship managed to get past the blockade with little trouble after that ordeal.

* * *

><p>The pilot looked at the fuel-cell screen, sighing in defeat as he read it.<p>

"There's not enough power to get us to Coruscant. The hyper-drive is leaking." the pilot said as Qui-Gon sighed.

"We'll have to land somewhere to refuel and repair the ship." Qui-Gon said as Obi-Wan pulled up a star chart on a monitor, looking for one of the closet possible inhabited planets.

"Here, Master." Obi-Wan said, getting the attention of the three Masters and two workers as he pointed to a small, barely noticeable planet, "Tatooine. It's small, out of the way, and poor. The Trade Federation has no presence there."

"How can you be sure of that?" Panaka asked gruffly as Qui-Gon turned back to him from across the cockpit.

"Because apparently it's controlled by the Hutts." Qui-Gon stated as Panaka looked as if he was about to have a heart attack. Huey put his hand under his chin as he began to get deep in thought.

"The HUTTS!" Panaka exclaimed in concern for his Queen.

"It is risky, but there isn't much of an alternative." Obi-Wan said, defending his choice in places to basically crash-land at.

"You can't take her Royal Highness there! The Hutts are gangsters! If they discovered her-"

"It would be no different than if we landed on a system controlled by the Trade Federation… except the Hutts aren't looking for her, which gives us an advantage." Qui-Gon countered as Panaka looked like he wanted to argue but didn't as he took a deep breath and sighed in frustration.

"Actually, if I remember right, then we may not even have trouble from the Hutts away." Huey said as he dug into his pocket and took out a small datapad-like device. Jazmine seemed to know what it was as the others watched him in confusion.

"Who are you calling? You know we don't get good service in the far reaches of outer space." Jazmine said as Huey used speed-dial to call someone.

"Traban." Huey said as he moved out of the cockpit when the phone started to ring.

"What was that thing?" Qui-Gon asked as Jazmine seemed to become aware that she wasn't just with Huey.

"Umm… it was a contact device that can't be tracked in the galaxy. It's too primitive to anyway." jazmine said with a shrug as Huey came back in a few minutes later.

"He and Riley are meeting us on Tatooine in three normal days. We should arrive there at least one standard day before them though, so we'll just have to wait." Huey said as he pocketed his phone. It was a good thing that their phones could still work with the Sprint tower they had setup on Coruscant and other planets centuries ago. Thankfully their descendants still believed the towers to be "sacred" or something another.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Obi-Wan muttered as he traded looks with his Master Qui-Gon.

The pilot only sighed as he made the necessary coordinate adjustments, heading the little Naboo spacecraft off in a new direction. Toward both danger, and surprise, for none of them knew what could possibly await them on the desert planet of Tatooine.


	8. A Trippie Trip to Tatooine!

_**Jedi Ranks in Their Paths:**_

_**Huey: Warrior Master**_

_**Jazmine: Healing Master**_

_**Riley: Weapon Master**_

_**Cindy: Sage Master**_

_**Traban: Sage Master**_

_**Ming: Warrior Master**_

**Chapter 8: A Trippie Trip to Tatooine!**

* * *

><p>Aboard the Trade Federation <em>Lucrehulk<em>-class battleship the _Saak'ak_, in the main conference room Nute Gunray and his aide Rune Haako sat at the conference table while a hologram of a cloaked figure bore down on them like a Phantom Menace.

"And what of Queen Amidala? Has she signed the treaty yet?" the hologram image of Darth Sidious said calmly while Gunray and Haako

"She has… d-disappeared, my Lord." Gunray said, much hesitation in his voice as he gulped, "One of the Naboo-cruisers got past our blockade."

The hologram of Sidious changed it's disposition immediately from calmly impassive to sneering with rage.

"I want her found, and that treaty _signed_!" Sidious snarled as Gunray and Haako paled rather weirdly from their healthy green to a sickly one.

"M-my Lord it is impossible to locate the ship now that it is out of our sensory range." Gunray said quickly as Sidious smirked while turning to the side of him. A second figure appeared in the holo-image, crossing his arms and glaring pure disgust and hatred at the two aliens who quivered in fear of him and Sidious.

"Not for a Sith, it isn't. Meet my apprentice, he is Darth Maul. _He_ will find your lost ship." Sidious said with an obvious note of pride in his voice.

It wasn't long before the hologram faded, and the two Nemodians turned to one another with fear evident on their faces.

"This is getting out of hand." Nute panicked as Haako nodded rapidly in agreement, "Now there are _two_ of them!"

Rune Haako shook his head as he put it in his hands, "We should have _never_ made this bargain…"

* * *

><p>Back aboard the Naboo spaceship, Huey and the others were gathered around the R2-unit that had saved them from near death.<p>

"Well, isn't this one extremely well put-together little utility droid." Cindy said, looking over the astromech droid as they stood before the Queen in her chambers.

"Yeah, you really did save us, didn't you?" Jazmine said as she petted the R2-unit lovingly. Huey only rolled his eyes as his arms were crossed.

"It's not a pet, Jazmine. It's a machine that was fulfilling it's programming." Huey said in a bored drawl as Jazmine looked up at him with her tongue out.

Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Captain Panaka were right alongside Jazmine and Cindy with the little droid before the Queen while Huey and Ming were near the door leaning against the walls beside said door. The Queen and her three handmaidens; Padme, Eirtae and Rabe, listen as Panaka, Jazmine, and Cindy praised the little droid.

"It is extremely well put-together little droid. Without a doubt it saved the ship, and all our lives." Panaka said as he too patted the top of the droid's head.

Queen Amidala nodded her head regally, "This small droid is to be commended. What is it's number?"

The astromech droid let out a series of beeps and whistles as Captain Panaka leans over the droid, scrapes some dirt off the side, and read the number aloud.

"R2-D2, your Highness." Panaka said as the Queen nodded, giving a slight bow of her head.

"Thank you, R2-D2." Amidala said before pausing, her eyes flickering to her left somewhat while the little astromech beeped in gratitude, "Padme!"

The handmaiden named Padme stepped forward and bowed to her Queen. Ming nudged Huey, who nodded, but held up a finger as the Queen continued to speak.

"Clean this droid up the best you can. It deserves our gratitude." Queen Amidala said before turning back to Panaka, "Continue your report, Captain."

Panaka stepped forward, but cast a dour look at the Jedi, mostly Huey and Qui-Gon. Huey raised a brow at the look while he stepped forward to address the issue.

"Your Highness, we are heading for a remote planet called Tatooine. It is a system far beyond the reach of the Trade Federation." Huey said as Panaka interrupted, making Huey scowl at him for doing so.

"I do not agree with the Jedi on this, Your Highness. Tatooine is very dangerous. It's controlled by an alliance of gangsters known as the Hutts." Panaka said sternly, not looking the least bit happy about what the plan the Jedi had come up with.

Qui-Gon stepped forward as he looked right into the eyes of the Queen, expressing with his firm gaze the seriousness of his words while all the others in the room watched on, "You must trust our judgment, Your Highness."

Ming, Cindy, Huey, and Jazmine were the only ones to see how the Queen seemed to subtly glance toward the handmaiden Padme, who had moved to stand next to R2-D2.

The meeting was over with Amidala dismissing them and telling Panaka and Huey that she would take their words under consideration.

Panaka, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon were looking over the pilots shoulder while Huey and Cindy watched from their seats in the cockpit. A large desert planet was directly in front of their ship as they came into it's atmosphere. The pilot began flipping switches and the like.

"That's it, Master: Tatooine." Obi-Wan said as Huey and Cindy exchanged looks.

"There's a settlement down there, a spaceport of sorts, it looks like." Obi-Wan said as he looked through the ship's computer.

"We should land near the outskirts until Traban and Riley have arrived. We don't want to attract any attention until at least then." Huey said as he got up and reached into his robe for his phone.

Cindy gave Huey a look as she crossed her legs, "And doing just that _would_ attract more attention."

"What do you mean?" Panaka asked before Huey could respond. Huey rolled his eyes as he looked at Cindy, who tapped at her temple with a smug look. Huey only sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he could feel a headache coming on.

"Mister Ollie?" Huey said as the pilot turned to him.

"Yes, Master Jedi?" the pilot said.

"Get clearance to land at the spaceport." Huey said as he and Cindy looked at the scope.

"Mos Espa? That's new." Cindy muttered to Huey as he nodded.

"Not really." The pilot said, having overheard them, "Its been around for about two hundred years. Anchorhead has been around forever, I believe."

Huey shrugged while Cindy gave a light chuckle as she settled back into her seat, smiling at the pilot, "You wouldn't believe us if we told you."

Cindy watched as Huey walked out, and turned back to Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, both of whom looked at her curiously while Panaka looked severely displeased.

"By landing outside in the desert, we'd attract way more attention than landing at the spaceport; effectively blending in with the rest of the galaxy's traffic here."

"But the Queen's safety-" Panaka began.

"Shall not be compromised in any way. This will be safer, trust me. We'll just have to post people at the ramp, and not let anyone onboard without explicit clearance from either we Jedi, or the Queen." Cindy said calmly as Qui-Gon exchanged a look with his apprentice.

Behind them, the door opened as Huey came in grumbling about something, sitting in his chair and drumming his fingers over the console while Ming and Jazmine walked in after him.

"Something the matter, Hue-man?" Cindy asked as Huey sighed from his seat beside her.

"Traban and Riley are behind schedule due to some trouble with the passage's route and stops to get here. They're on a civilian transport, so it'll take them about another day to get here." Huey said.

Cindy only gave a giggle as she shook her head, "Those two are always late when they're together by themselves. I used to think that they were-"

"Don't say it." Huey growled as he gave Cindy's smug look an annoyed one.

"Oh well, we'll just have to go without them for now." Ming said as she leaned against a wall.

"We?" Qui-Gon asked as Jazmine nodded.

"Of course, Master Jinn. Huey, Obi-Wan, R2-D2, Cindy, Ming, and myself shall venture into the town and look for parts. You will stay, and protect the queen along with Captain Panaka and his Guard. The only reason I'm going is because we don't have many medical supplies, and I'm hoping to find some." Jazmine said with a serene look on her face as she closed her eyes and smiled at Qui-Gon.

Qui-Gon looked rather put out about the idea that he was basically being told to stay behind while his Padawan was getting to go off ship, but Jazmine was technically senior master on the mission.

Plus, she had this scary aura about her that was ten times worse than any other healer he had ever known. It was just daring him to talk back against her so it could destroy him and make him one with the Force.

Why was it that the medics were always the scariest…?

"Two of us would need to remain behind, and while we are a bit dated in this area, Huey and Cindy are better suited to be amongst the population of Tatooine. They can't leave Huey behind as he's to meet up with Traban and Riley. Ming is going to basically be the muscle should anything go wrong with either venture, and R2-D2 should as they may require his assistance." Jazmine said as Qui-Gon raised a brow.

"And of my Padawan?" Qui-Gon asked, with a smile on his lips as Jazmine smiled back.

"Learning experience." She said quickly in a teasing tone as Qui-Gon shook his head with a chuckle.

Not finding an argument he could use to his advantage, he nodded. Jedi Master Jazmine truly was something else…

It wasn't long before they had landed on the spaceport and their boarding ramp was down. Jazmine and Huey walked toward the down ramp, ignoring Panaka's words about exposing the Queen to danger, and how they should have hidden the ship out amongst the dunes.

"Would you stop your whining, Panaka! Tell me something, Captain, between the two of us, who's been away from Naboo more?" Huey said, finally having enough of the man's insipid whining.

"I know what you're getting at, but the Hutts are vile beasts-" Panaka said as Huey merely waved him off.

"Yeah, and I was labeled a Sith Lord once upon a time. It's called Life; deal with it." Huey said as he spun on heel and walked away while the man sputtered out nonsense. Jazmine sighed as she moved to catch up with her husband.

"Huey?" Jazmine called softly as she pulled up the hood of her robes. Huey stared out at the spaceport from on the boarding ramp while many life-forms moved about.

"It hasn't changed much." Huey muttered impassively as he crossed his arms and continued staring.

"Huey?" Jazmine said again as Huey glanced over at his side where Jazmine was.

"Sorry, but he was annoying." Huey said and turned to his wife. Jazmine was about to tell him something, but she stopped whatever she was about to say when she saw Captain Panaka come back again down the ramp. The thing that stopped her from warning him that Huey tended to kill really annoying people was that he came with one of the Queen's Handmaidens.

"_What had been the girl's name? Parvati? No, I think that's from Harry Potter. Pallie? No, that's from that law show I used to watch. Paulie? No, that's the guy's who Huey broke the arm of for trying to touch me that time. Wait, it's Padme! Yup, Padme! I knew it along_." Jazmine thought as she smiled at the two approaching. From over their shoulders she could see Ming and Cindy coming along with the R2-driod.

"Her Highness wishes to learn more about this planet, and requests you take her handmaiden with you." Panaka said importantly once he and the girl Padme had stopped in front of them.

"No thank you. We're not taking requests today." Huey said irritability as Jazmine smiled and elbowed him in the ribs.

"We'd be happy to take her with us, but she must follow our judgment, and listen when we tell her something." Jazmine said with an air of pleasantry, but both Panaka and Padme shuddered at the dark feeling rolling off of her, daring them to defy her and her sweetness.

"Of course, Madam Jedi." Padme said quickly with a bow as Huey turned from then and scoffed.

"Where is the Padawan? I thought he'd be here by now." Ming commented as she crossed her arms.

"There he is." Cindy said as she looked back to the ship, seeing Obi-Wan finally joining them at the bottom of the ramp.

"Took you long enough, Padawan." Ming said, with a downward gaze at the shorter Jedi.

"Sorry, Madam Ming. Master Qui-Gon and I had trouble getting to the hyper-drive to get it's markings." Obi-Wan said as Ming only nodded to him and made her way next to Huey, both looking like they irritated at just being on the planet more than anything else.

"You may leave us, Panaka. Rest assured, we have your _handmaiden_ in good hands." Cindy said with a wink at Padme, who only looked confused at what the blonde Jedi was implying. Panaka didn't seem to catch anything odd as he simply nodded and walked back onto the ship, making the boarding ramp going with him.

"Ben, check the R2-unit and have it locate any junk dealers that may have the parts we need. Also check to see if there are any farmers nearby that have herbs and other plant life." Jazmine commanded gently as Obi-Wan gave a start at the order but nodded and smiled as he and R2 moved off to the shade of the ship to complete the task.

"Now that the Padawan is out of hearing, does _Your Highness_ have an explanation as to what games your playing at?" Ming said as her and Huey turned toward Padme. It was only then that Padme realized that the four Master Jedi had her boxed-in from the very beginning.

"What…? But I'm not… How?" Padme sputtered out quickly until she took in their serious looks and paled.

Ming smirked at her like she was showing a child how to properly perform a trick, wagging her finger as she let her other hand rest on her hip, "We've suspected it since the moment we saw the Queen's reactions back on Naboo, and how you were the first to speak up, as if coaching her through her job."

"I must admit though that we were a little surprised the Naboo would be crafty enough to pull off a decoy situation as you have done, but it's worked well enough so far. This isn't the first time we've dealt with decoys, Padme, but we didn't think people still used them in Known Space." Jazmine said gently as Padme sighed.

"You aren't going to say anything… are you?" Padme asked as Huey scoffed, his arms still crossed as he gave Padme a stern and impassive gaze.

"No, we're not. We are here to _protect_ you, not rat you out so people can kill you. All of us here have used decoys before, and have dealt with them in use for others as well. Back on our home-world and the one we were raised on before becoming Jedi, it is a standard practice for many people to use a double, or in some cases, multiple ones." Huey said as Padme looked a bit confused.

"The reason he said multiple body-doubles is because any of your servants could pass as you when the make-up is on." Cindy explained as Padme nodded in understanding, seeing how that was the point of her handmaidens.

"Anyways, we'll keep this under wraps… but you _will_ stay close to one of us while we're here. We can't afford _anything_ happening to you while we're here, or the chance of someone discovering you." Huey said as Padme glared down at her hands like a scolded child that didn't like what they were being told.

"What about Obi-Wan…?" Padme asked quietly as Huey and the others exchanged looks with raised brows. They said nothing on or against it as they were soon joined by the flustered looking Padawan and R2-D2.

"Here are the farms you asked for, Madam Jazmine. The farms around here are all listed in the Republic registry. The junk yards however… were not." Obi-Wan said, looking down slightly as if afraid to disappoint Jazmine. Jazmine smiled at him and patted his shoulder before she turned about.

"That's fine, Obi-Wan. It just means that you'll have to look for the dealers yourselves. Well then, I'm heading off to see if I can get a good deal at a moisture farm, so I'll meet you all back at the ship later." Jazmine said as she began walking off.

"I'm going with you. I don't particularly want to go junk-diving for deals." Ming said as she scowled in disgust at the thought, stepping to Jazmine's side as Huey gently placed a hand on Jazmine's shoulder.

"Be careful, Jazmine. We're in Hutt-territory." Huey said softly with a steady gaze into her eyes as Jazmine nodded.

"I know. You be careful too." Jazmine said before she and Ming (who made low gagging noises at their exchange) walked off completely, disappearing in the crowds of dirty refugees and smugglers.

Huey and the others watched the two female Jedi Masters go without a word before Huey sighed.

"Well, let's go. After we deal with getting the parts, we'll find my wayward little brother and moron of a best friend/stupid elder half-brother." Huey said, though muttered the last part quickly.

"How are we going to find them, Master Huey?" Obi-Wan asked, actually quite curious on how the Jedi duo would be found.

"It's simple really. We'll just follow the winding trail of destruction, mayhem, and/or debauchery." Cindy said in a far too chirper tone as she clasped her hands together while Huey scowled with a nod, leading them away from the spaceport.

"Yeah, plus if all else fails, I'm sure they'll just signal us the old fashion way." Huey said as Obi-Wan and Padme exchanged worried looks.

"The old fashion way?" Obi-Wan asked, blinking owlishly in confusion.

"Yeah, you know, by blowing crap up and causing people to run in the opposite direction of them for miles upon miles." Huey said casually as Obi-Wan figured a mile was a long measure of distance.

"Oh… that's reassuring…"

* * *

><p>Traban sighed as he and Riley stepped off their civilian transport and into the sun, shielding their faces from the unforgiving heat with their tunic sleeves.<p>

"Nearly as bad as Egypt in the summer when God has a magnifying glass pointed down at ya." Traban said as Riley only muttered under his breath while wiping the already forming sweat beads from his brow.

"It's hotter than yo breath, nigga, and that's _sayin_' something…" Riley said as Traban looked at him with a raised brow.

"The heat must already be frying your brain if that's the best you could come up with." Traban said as he lowered his arm back o his side, his eyes slowly adjusting to the brightness of the sun while he allowed the Force to cool his body temperature.

"So what do we do now?" Riley asked, not caring for anymore witty banter while in the heat.

"We find Huey and the others. Though I'm not sure if they'd come to this new spaceport instead of going to Anchorhead. Mos Espa is new, but it's from here that the closet junkyards are in all the planet." Traban said as Riley slowly placed his arm down as they walked.

"Wait, didn't you tell them we'd be a day late?" Riley asked as Traban stopped for a second, but shrugged as they kept moving.

"And I thought we would, but thankfully we didn't need to stop at that pass-off on Ohann. That put us a day ahead of our scheduled trip." Traban explained as Riley nodded, remembering the pilot announcing that but not caring at the time.

"So what do we do with the day?" Riley said as Traban grinned that grin which meant they'd be doing something they really shouldn't and that would be truly dangerous.

If Riley were gay, he'd have totally fallen in love with Traban every time the older male had that grin on his face.

"We're going do something I've always dreamed of doing, and have done before! Dragon hunting, killing, and treasure taking!" Traban exclaimed as Riley sighed a loving sigh.

"Have I ever told you that if I was a girl, I'd be all over you?" Riley said as Traban's grin turned into a smirk.

"Yes. Yes, you have. Have I ever told you that if you were a girl, you'd be in my bed right now screaming my name for everyone in the galaxy to hear?" Traban said conversationally, though with a hint of smugness and amusement.

"Y-Yes. Yes, you have." Riley said, blushing slightly at the Traban's words.

"Then let's go, but first the Hunter's Den!" Traban said, running off with Riley right at his heels bursting with excitement.

Hey, it wasn't everyday he got to slay a dragon _and_ get rich off it. It was only the days he and Traban worked together that it happened.

* * *

><p>Huey, Cindy, Obi-Wan, and Padme walked down the main street of Mos Espa while R2 moved between them. Huey was trying to ignore all the dangerous-looking citizens of numerous species that passed them with a passion, but Padme, however, was in awe of the exotic environment and many different life-forms she had never encountered on Naboo.<p>

"I don't see why you're so excited. This place is moisture farms for the most part. There are also a few indigenous tribes and scavengers, but nothing worthwhile." Huey said with a dispassionate roll of his eyes when Padme asked about the numerous species and places, "The few spaceports like this one are practically havens for those who don't want to be found in the better parts of the galaxy."

"Sort of like us." Padme countered with a mocking nod as Huey gave her a sparing glare before he continued watching for threats.

R2 whistles sound like chuckles as Cindy moved beside the small droid, Obi-Wan listening to the banter between the Handmaiden and Master Huey as well while his eyes roam in constant motion.

"What's up, Ben? Sensing something?" Cindy asked as Obi-Wan was startled for a second, but recovered with an embarrassed chuckle.

"It's just that, you and Master Huey will have your hands full with getting the parts and getting a good deal for them, and whatnot. I just decided that since you'd be doing that, I'd be put to better use protecting the Queen's handmaiden myself." Obi-Wan said as Cindy giggled at him.

"Oh, Benny-boy. Well, aren't you a regular Casanova, a knight in shining armor for this little lady." Cindy said as she put her hands on Padme's shoulders. Padme blushed at what was insinuated by the blonde Jedi Master, and sputtered out a weak protest, but she couldn't deny that Obi-Wan was very handsome for 25 year-old man, but she was merely a 14 year-old young woman and was not looking for a relationship while her people were suffering.

"T-Thank you for watching over me, Master Kenobi, but I can't pursue a relationship at this point. Not while my Queen's people- _my_ fellow people on Naboo suffer." Padme said as Obi-Wan grew wide-eyed and flustered that the girl would actually take Master Cindy's teasing to heart.

"I'm sorry, Miss Padme, but I'm… at _least_ ten years older than you. It would never work out. Besides… there's another who has my heart…" Obi-Wan said, though he muttered the last part as Padme turned on him in a huff.

"Are you trying to say I'm not good enough for you, _Master_ Jedi? Because as you should know, it is not uncommon for there to be even a _fifty_ year age-gap between two spouses within the galaxy." Padme said heatedly, finding Obi-Wan's dismissal of her as a child (at least the way she saw it) as an affront to her pride and maturity.

"What? No! I'm not saying anything like that at all! Listen, Miss Padme, you're very beautiful. Any man with eyes to see you and ears to hear would be more than lucky enough to have you. It's just that-" Obi-Wan tried to placate her as they walked through the streets. Huey wasn't even looking back and Cindy looked far too amused by the whole thing to help him, and R2... Wait, was R2 _grinning_ at him? Could droids with no faces _do_ that, or was the heat playing tricks on him?

"What is it then, Master Kenobi? Am I not woman enough for you? Am I not of high enough standing for a _Jedi_? Please, tell me so that I might _cry_." Padme said, not knowing any longer if she was angry or actually curious as to why he wasn't interested in her. Though none of that stopped the sarcasm from rolling off her tongue. She heard Huey chuckle lightly at her, but he still wasn't looking back at any of them.

"It's none of that at all! You're very… umm… womanly, and your maturity speaks for itself as does your bravery and loyalty toward your Queen's people and their plight. Status has nothing to do with it either. I just… haven't thought of you in that way. Okay? Before now, I had given not a single thought to you any manner other than the professional. Though if I had to say now, like I just did a minute ago, I would still say that any man you choose to love would be very lucky to have you, Miss Padme." Obi-Wan said, trying very hard to appease the young woman while still being truthful.

Padme seemed to stop glaring at him as a blush crept onto her cheeks as his compliments finally reached her. She gave a soft giggle as she turned from him and continued to walk beside Master Huey, who had a small smirk on his face as he glanced back at Ben.

Was the boy a smooth operator or what?

"T-Thank you, Master Kenobi." Padme said as she finally got control over herself. Obi-Wan only sighed as his shoulders slumped in relief.

Women… All of them proud, strong, and crazy as hell…

* * *

><p>It wasn't very long (though the witty banter passed between Huey and Padme made it seem that way) before they entered a sort of shopping center or plaza, surrounded by several junk and spaceship dealers.<p>

"I think we'll try one of the smaller dealers first. They'll be happy for the business, and may even give us a bit of a deal to both help get rid of their junk and feed themselves. That is, if Tatooine is still as poor as I remember it being while under the rule of a Hutt." Huey said with his arms behind his back in a manner to project his wisdom after having scanned the plaza with a practiced ease of experience. These people really were too poor to not scowl upon. He hated the Hutts with a passion…

"Why don't we start with that one there?" Cindy suggested, pointing to one shop that looked small, yet had a huge pile of broken spacecrafts and junk stacked behind it.

Huey and the others nodded as they moved toward the shop, Cindy falling into step beside Huey as they never glanced at one another.

"All we have are Republic credits, Huey. You know how Tatooine is about the Republic and how they work, they may not take the credits." Cindy whispered as Huey's scowl deepened.

"I didn't bring anything too worthwhile with me. Just a few lightsabers, my cell phone, a Republic credits card, and a pack full of clothes. Oh, and a few capsules of supplies. You?" Huey said as he glanced at Cindy, who sighed and shook her head.

"A blaster and an extra lightsaber. Jazmine or Ming might have something we could trade though, and if not then we'll have to search the ship." Cindy said as she frowned at the tight spot they might be in.

"I'm sure that when Traban and Riley get here they'll have some gems or expensive crap that we could barter with." Huey said as Cindy glanced over at him and nodded.

"You contact Qui-Gon while I handle the dealer. If push comes to shove, I'll Mind Trick 'em." Cindy said with a small smirk as Huey scoffed and smirked back.

The group and droid entered the junk shop, looking around a bit before they were greeted by a pudgy blue alien, who flew toward them on two wings with a data-pad in hand. He began speaking in an alien language as Cindy stepped forward to deal with him.

"_Hi, chuba. Da naga_?"

"What did he say?" Padme asked as she tugged at Huey's cloak while Huey only rolled his eyes.

"He's speaking Huttese; the language of the Hutts. It figures though… He said, "Good day to you, and welcome. What can I do for you?" Now I'm not translating anymore, so I suggest you look for the subtitles." Huey said, tugging his cloak from the girl's grasp as Padme blinked in confusion.

What the hell was a subtitle, and how would it help her understand the language?

"Hey, we need parts for a J-Type 327 Nubian Space-cruiser. Do you have any?" Cindy asked politely in English (or Basic as it was called) as the being gave a toothy grin.

"Ah yes, yes. Nubian. We have lots of that." the alien said in Basic as Cindy smiled at him, trying to seem like a good and polite customer so they could probably get a deal off the little blue grease-wad.

"_Pendake_! _Naba dee unko_!" the alien shouted He then turns to the empty doorway leading to the back room.

"Pssh… Obi-Wan." Padme said as she poked the Padawan. Obi-Wan looked over to her as she gave him a cute and innocent, yet still curious look.

"Yes, Miss Padme?" Obi-Wan asked, trying hard not to start another scene with her.

"What did he say?" Padme asked as Obi-Wan sighed in defeat, resigning to not fight with her and simply obey.

He had learned now that it was best for men to simply do as told when dealing with women…

"He said, "Boy, get in here now!", and might I add that he was being rather rude at having shouted so in front of us." Obi-Wan said as Padme nodded, fully agreeing with how rude it was to shout in front of guest.

"Our droid here has a readout of what we need." Cindy said, ignoring the banter behind her as she motioned toward R2, who rolled up beside her at the sound of his name.

Huey wasn't much paying attention, but when a disheveled looking boy came rushing in from the junkyard, his scowl only deepened at the sight of the slave. He knew there was something about the whole scene he should have picked up on, but he couldn't for the life of him place it.

He did, however, know that it had something to do with movies…

Cindy, however, narrowed her eyes at the alien, who raised a hand to the little boy, the boy flinching away from it. She sighed when the pair started conversing in Huttese.

"_Coona tee-tocky malia_?" the alien snarled at the boy, who looked indignantly at him.

"Obi?" Padme called cutely with puppy-dog eyes as Obi-Wan sighed with a roll of his eyes.

"He asked what took the boy so long?" Obi-Wan repeated in a bored drawl.

"_Mel tassa cho-passa_…" The boy answered, his eyes finding his feet more interesting than anything else. Before Padme could ask, Obi-Wan was already whispering to her.

"The boy said that he was cleaning the bin like he was told."

"_Chut-Chut! Ganda doe wallya. Me dwana no bata_." the alien said as he turned back to Cindy.

"He told the boy never mind that, and to watch the store while he does some selling to us." Obi-Wan whispered to Padme, who glanced at the boy in fascination.

"So… let me take ya out back, huh? There we'll find what ya need." the being said as he flew toward the back of the junk shop with Cindy and R2 following along, leaving Huey with Ben, Padme, and the little boy.

Cindy gave a glance at Huey as he moved to the center of the shop, grabbing Padme's hand as she picked up a piece of unknown junk she had looked at curiously.

"Don't touch anything." Huey said sternly to her, stilling holding her hand as she looked up at him and met his stern gaze. She wasn't even aware of his hand gripping hers as she got lost in his eyes. They were so… maroon… She blinked herself from his unwavering gaze as she jerked her hand from his hold, both embarrassed that she had gotten lost in his eyes and angry that he was getting to her.

"I'm not a child." Padme stated indignantly as Huey scoffed at her.

"To me; you _are_." Huey said as he crossed his arms.

Padme rounded on Obi-Wan, hoping for some support when she saw the Padawan lightly wandering around the shop. He was keeping his hands to himself, already knowing that anything around them could spell disaster. That, and he certainly didn't have the currency to pay for any of it. Then there was the point that he figured Master Huey wouldn't take to kindly to any of them touching things and when he heard the afro-headed Master's warning to Padme, he put his hands behind his back to further resist the temptation.

Huey raised a brow when Padme turned from both him and Obi-Wan, but his brow rose further when he saw the boy sitting on the counter. The boy was pretending to clean a part, but his eyes kept drifting to Padme as if he had a… crush… on… her…

Oh no…

Padme seemed to catch the boy's staring at her as well, her cheeks colored in embarrassment by his stare. She did manage not to get as flustered as she had with Obi-Wan or Huey as she mustered up an amused smile at the boy's obviousness and obliviousness to the fact that both Obi-Wan and Huey had caught him as well. Obi-Wan and Huey smirked when the kid finally got up the courage to talk to Padme, though she glared at both of them for their obvious amusement at the kid's discomfort.

"Are you an angel?" the boy asked as Padme blinked, not having expected that to come from the boy who looked almost three to five years younger than herself. Glancing to her sides she saw that Huey scoffed at the both the idea and her (she shot him a glare for that), and Obi-Wan grinning somewhat in a teasing way (she smacked him for that since he was closer and because he was cowed by her from earlier).

"What?" Padme asked, an amused smile on her face as she moved closer to the boy.

"An angel." The boy repeated as he saw she wasn't taking offense to him (a lowly slave) speaking directly to her (a customer), "… I've heard the deep space pilots talk about them. They're said to be the most beautiful creatures in the whole universe. They live on the moons of Iego, I think."

Obi-Wan turned away, trying to politely control his laughter at the boy's attempts at fluttering, but Huey didn't see to have any quarrels with chuckling out right in front of them. Padme's look cowed him again, and when she glared at Huey he only raised a brow in challenge as she quickly sighed aloud in irritation at him and his not doing as she said. He was just so… ugh…

"I've never heard of angels before." Padme confessed as she stood in front of the boy with a shrug.

"You must be one, and just not know it." the boy said with a shrug as Huey rolled his eyes while Obi-Wan's muffled his snickers with his tunic sleeve.

"You're a funny little boy. How do you know so much?" Padme asked, humoring the boy since he was probably gonna be her only entertainment for however longer they were there.

"I listen to all the traders and star pilots that come through here." The boy said with another shrug as he smiled at her slightly, "I'm a pilot too, you know. Someday, I'm going to fly away from this place."

"Aww look, now he's trying to impress you." Huey said as he leant down and whispered into Padme's ear. Padme blushed when she realized he was so close to her, his heated breath in her ear sending shivers down her spine.

Trying to gain some control over herself and the situation she looked directly at the boy and grinned lightly, "You're a pilot?"

"Yup, all my life." the boy said with a nod.

"How long have you been here?" Padme asked as the boy's face took on a more sober look. Obi-Wan stopped chuckling as Huey's smirking face went back into his light Freeman-scowl.

"Since I was very little. Three, maybe four years-old, I think. My mom and I were sold to Gardulla the Hutt…" the boy said, pausing as if reflecting and remembering that time before he shivered slightly, "But she lost us betting on the pod-races to Watto here. He's a much better master than Gardulla… Well, I think anyways."

"You're… a _slave_?" Padme asked in shock before sending a look to Huey, who for some reason couldn't meet her gaze. She rounded on Obi-Wan, who too couldn't meet her gaze, but both Jedi nodded solemnly as to answer her.

When Padme turned back to the boy, she saw that he was glaring at her with a look of pure defiance and indignity in his eyes. It was like he was telling her that he'd rather die than hear her utter his existence and the word "slave" in the same sentence.

"I'm a _person_, and my _name_ is Anakin." the boy said forcefully as he slammed down the part he was cleaning on the counter he was sitting on. Padme for her part was shocked at just how furious the boy got at her for the little incident. Huey scowled at him, already seeing that the boy's bitterness and anger were at dangerous levels for one so young while Obi-Wan merely raised a brow as he felt the boy's bitterness and rage through the Force.

"I-I'm sorry… I didn't… I don't fully understand." Padme said, looking from Huey to Obi-Wan for help but found none from either, "This… _all of this_… It's all strange to me. This world is so strange to me." Padme admitted as young Anakin looked at her intently, his eyes studying her with an intensity that she somehow likened to that of the afro-headed Jedi Master next to her.

With his beautiful maroon-red eyes…

"And you are a strange girl to me." Anakin said as Padme blinked, but blushed when she realized that she had been day-dreaming slightly about Jedi Master behind her and his eyes while Anakin had been upset.

Obi-Wan was chuckling right along with Huey as they saw the embarrassed blush on Padme's face from what little Anakin had said. Obi-Wan's elbow went back as he tried to lean on the square box-like droid next to him for support, but in turn bumped his elbow into the nose of what looked like small maintenance droid instead.

The thing instantly came to life spreading it's arms and legs from it's torso before it started moving about, knocking over everything it touched. Huey's eyes darted to the thing as he was about to reach for his lightsaber and slice it in two, but remembered abruptly that they had no money to pay for it while Obi-Wan panicked and tried to grab it. The droid laughed at him while he got a scowl on his face that Huey raised a brow to. Obi-Wan shot to his feet before he snatched the droid into his hand by it's thin metal neck while Huey sighed and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms.

Anakin, taking some small amount of pity on poor Obi-Wan, spoke up from his spot on the counter, "Hey!"

"Yes?" Obi-Wan said as the droid lightly kicked him in the groin. To his credit, only his eye twitched at the pain of a droid's metallic foot kicking his junk with any amount of strength.

"Hit the nose!" Anakin said as Obi-Wan nodded at him with a look of realization. He did so, and saw the droid collapse back into itself while he looked up sheepishly at Master Huey's stern, yet slightly amused face. He glanced over to the others only to see and hear Anakin and Padme laughing at him.

"She's got a nice laugh…" Obi-Wan said before he knew it, slapping his hands over his mouth as Padme blushed, even more so when she felt Huey's strong hand ruffling her hair lightly.

"Yes she does. She should try doing so more often." Huey said, and even though his tone didn't show, Padme thought that the mirth in his eyes did all the talking. Her blush only grew more when she saw that both Obi-Wan and Anakin were watching her. She quickly batted away Huey's hand as she collected herself, straightening and smoothing her hair out as all three males watched her in content.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, out behind the shop in the junkyard, Watto and Cindy were strolling far into the junkyard while Watto read off details from a datapad in his hand. They finally came to a stop in front of a dirty, dust and dirt-covered old hyper-drive which Cindy grimaced at.<p>

"Ah, here it is, my friend! T-14 hyper-drive generator! You be in luck, I'm just about the only one around who has one…" Watto said before he broke into a small smirk, "But ya might as well buy a new ship, it would be cheaper." Watto joked with a small laugh before his face became more serious as he gave Cindy a look over, "Speaking of which; how is ya going to pay for all this?"

Cindy sighed before giving a small smile. This was the moment of truth…

"I have 20,000 Republic dataries-" Cindy said before Watto cut her off.

"Republic credits?" Watto asked as she nodded, though mentally she knew they would have to go with their other plans before Watto even continued, "Republic credits are no good out here. I need something more real…" Watto finished as he shook his fist.

"Listen, we don't have anything else at the moment, but how much would it cost us anyway? I need to know for when we get the amount, which can be very soon." Cindy said, making her words sound like it was no big deal when in fact it was a _huge_ problem.

They were fucking _stuck_ on the desert hellhole until they bought the damn engine!

"It'd be about… 50,000 credits… some where in that range…" Watto said with a rub of his chin while Cindy gaped at him in disbelief.

"50,000! Are you fucking insane! Look at this damn thing!" Cindy yelled in outrage as she gestured to the engine, "It's covered it dirt and dust, riddled in sand and heat, and who knows if the damn thing even _works_! 20,000!"

"No! It works just fine because I tested it last season, and the dirt and sand are only superficial. 50,000!"

"You must have lost yo natural damn mind! 25,000!"

"No, deal! 45,000!"

"Are you out of your little blue-ballin' head! Just look at it and tell me if you'd buy it for that much!"

"… 35,000… and that's as low as I'll go." Watto said as Cindy glared at him while he crossed his arms.

"30,000 and that's as _high_ as I'll go." Cindy said firmly as she too crossed her arms. If the fool wouldn't sell, then she'd just Mind Trick him.

"Look, you're the one who needs it, so you'd do good to simply pay up. 33,000 and that's my final deal." Watto said calmly and confidently as he gave Cindy a cool look.

"Urgh! 30,000!" Cindy yelled before she took a deep breath and calmed herself. She was in control, she was the customer, "It's still 10,000 more than you would have initial got, and you'd "_do good_" to sell to us because when's the next chance to get rid of it gonna come up? How long's it been sitting here? Looks like a while to me…" Cindy said nonchalantly as she ran a finger across the top of the engine and showed Watto the thick layer of dirt before she dusted off her hands.

Watto growled at her as he knew she was right. The specific hyper-drive generator engine was very rare and even though Nubian ships came through to their sector and his shop a lot for spare parts and whatnot, he had the engine for longer than he had Anakin as a slave, and that was saying something. Watto sighed in defeat as he looked her in her smug face. Though some part of him was rather impressed by her bargaining skills and tenacity… even if it was being used against him…

"Fine, fine, fine! You drive a hard bargain, but you're right. 30,000 will do fine." Watto said as Cindy smiled brightly, "Ya know, you're pretty good at the game of haggling."

"Thanks, I always try to get the best deal for my money." Cindy said as she shook Watto hand.

"So… Ummm… Listen, we're trying to get off this rock as fast as possible, so could you just take the credits for now and we'd be back to pay you with someone more you could use?" Cindy said raising her hand and using the Force on Watto. She didn't like it, but they needed to reach Coruscant as fast as possible, "Credits will be fine."

"Umm… No, they won't." Watto said with a shake of his head. He liked her as a tough customer, but now she was just trying a little too hard to drive a bargain.

Cindy sighed at the stubbornness of the guy. She would keep her word and pay him, or else Huey and the others would kill her. She tried using the Jedi Mind Trick again, this time using just a little more power behind it as she waved her hand subtly once more.

"Credits _will_ do fine." Cindy said as Watto glared at her. What did she think she was? A Jedi? If she was then she would know Mind Tricks didn't work on his race!

"No, they won't! What you think you are; some kinda Jedi, waving your hand around like that?" Watto said as he mocked her harshly, "I'm a Toydarian! Mind tricks don't work on me, girlie. Only money works here! No money, no parts, _no deal_! And no one _else_ has a T-14 hyper-drive! I promise ya _that_."

Cindy cursed their luck under her breath. Why did she have to get one of the few species that the Mind Trick didn't work on. She knew if Traban was there that he could have made it work, but… that might have left the poor guy brain-dead afterward…

"Fine, you grouch! We'll get you _something_ to equal the amount, so just keep you're pants on!" Cindy said, stomping her petite foot as she turned on heel and stormed back toward the shop. Watto only chuckled at her childish dramatics.

He needed more customers like her. At least _she_ was funny…

* * *

><p>Back in the shop, Anakin was talking with Padme while Obi-Wan listened. He decided to do like Master Huey was doing, and silently listen in and absorb what was being said.<p>

"… I wouldn't have lasted so long if I weren't so good at fixing things… I'm making my own droid, ya know." Anakin said as Padme smiled. The kid, although a few years younger than herself, was really talented with mechanics.

Huey glanced off to the side as he saw Cindy come from the back with an annoyed expression on her face while grumbling under her breath about something, little R2-D2 struggling to keep up with her stride. Watto came flying up behind her with an amused expression on his face as Huey raised a brow.

What the hell had happened out there?

"We're leaving." She said shortly as Obi-Wan, Padme, and Anakin looked startled at her clipped tone. Obi-Wan moved quickly to follow as Huey's brow only rose further when he saw Cindy stomp out of the shop and wait for them, her arms crossed below her chest as her foot tapped at the sand beneath it impatiently. Huey shrugged as he pushed off the wall he was leaning on to get to her while Padme paused at the doorway, looking back at Anakin.

"I'm glad to have met you… Umm…" Padme said, having forgotten the boy's name already.

"Anakin." the boy said with a small smile as Padme nodded.

"Anakin." Padme said with a smile as the boy shook his head with a chuckle while Watto looked on.

So the boy had a crush, huh? Go figure…

"Anakin Skywalker." Anakin said, being sure to impress on her his name while Watto chuckled in the background.

Padme hesitated as Cindy gave her a look she recognized from her mother as "the Look". Padme turned back to Anakin with another bright smile , showing all of her perfectly white teeth.

"Padme… Padme Naberrie." Padme said before she turned away and walked off with the others.

Anakin watched her go sadly, felling his little heartbreak at the thought of never seeing a girl as beautiful as her again.

"I'm glad I met you, too…" Anakin called out with a forlorn tone in his voice as Watto came up beside him, patting his shoulder with a shake of his head.

The boy's first crush and she was only a customer he would probably never see again. How sad…

"_Outlanders… They think they everything, and we know nothing. Though I gotta admit that the blonde one was amusing_." Watto said in Huttese with a small smirk on his face as he crossed his arms. Anakin looked up at him with a shrug, trying to mask his sadness.

"_They seemed pretty nice to me_." Anakin replied as Watto looked down at him, seeing unshed tears in the boy's eyes.

"_Go clean the racks. Afterward, you can go home_." Watto said as Anakin smiled brightly and happily. It wasn't very often that he could go home early. Especially when not even half the day had pasted!

"_Yay_!" Anakin cried in joy as Watto watched him rush off to work with a small smile and shake of his head. After so long, the kid was starting to grow on him. Maybe he'd set the boy and his mother free and have them work for him with a little pay…?

Nah…

* * *

><p>"That is quite the load you got there, Madam Jazmine, Madam Ming." Qui-Gon said from the landing ramp as Jazmine and Ming came up the ramp with three men creating their crates for them.<p>

"Yes, I found this exceptional moisture farm that had all the things I was hoping for and more. They even had Bota plant, though I'm not sure how…" Jazmine said as she walked onto the ship.

Before Qui-Gon could say anything, however, his com-link started beeping as Jazmine directed the men with her crates, paying them as they finished.

Thankfully, they took Republic credits due to the moisture farm being a Republic facility.

"This is Qui-Gon, go ahead." Qui-Gon said as he closed the ramp after the men left. Ming and Jazmine came near him to listen as they both knew the only people with his com-link channel was Huey and the others.

"Qui-Gon, they won't take Republic credits. We need something of value to exchanged for the engine, and whatever it is better equal 30,000 credits worth." Cindy's voice said over the link as Jazmine and Ming exchanged looks.

"30,000? What herbs are they smoking?" Ming said as she heard Huey sigh over the link.

"Never mind that, just tell us if there is anything of value left on board." Huey said as Jazmine and Ming went through the things on board the ship, coming back five minutes later only to shake their heads.

"A few containers of supplies… The Queen's wardrobe, _maybe_, but not in the amount you're talking about." Qui-Gon said as a curse was heard over the com-link.

"Alright then. We'll just have to wait for another solution to come along. Traban and Riley might have _something_ of that much value they'd be willing to part with… under the promise of death. Come meet us in the town in an hour. Jazmine and Ming will be more than enough to keep an eye on the Queen there." Huey said over the link as Qui-Gon sighed. He was rather enjoying the cool air inside the ship.

Damn did he hate the heat…

"Alright, see you then." Qui-Gon said before he turned the com-link off before turning to the two female Jedi Masters, "You two will be already here, right?"

Jazmine gave Qui-Gon a smile as she patted his arm while Ming merely scoffed and crossed her arms.

"We'll be fine, Master Jinn." Jazmine said as Qui-Gon smiled lightly at her.

"Please, call me Qui-Gon. I think formalities are well out of the way with this mission." Qui-Gon said as the boarding ramp went down.

"Alright then… Qui-Gon." Jazmine said as she and Ming watched the man go as the ramp came back up.

* * *

><p>Huey sighed as Cindy put the com-link away.<p>

"Well, I'm sure Traban and Riley have arrived on the planet by now at least. Let's go see if we can't find some place better to wait for Qui-Gon." Cindy said as she and Huey moved to walk out onto the main street, but Padme grabbed her arm with a panicked look as she glanced off to see two big-looking alien fighting over a fish of some kind.

"Umm.. Is that such a good idea? We could be robbed or… assaulted." Padme said as she kept glancing at the fight. Cindy and Huey followed her gaze and shrugged off her arm as Obi-Wan looked to agree with Padme.

"Not likely, Padme. We have nothing of value." Cindy said lightly as she and Huey walked with the others following.

"Unfortunately, that's the problem." Obi-Wan muttered under his breath while Cindy chuckled at him.

"Someone's been around Master Huey here too long." Cindy said mockingly as Huey only scowled at her and then at Padme's amused expression.

They were walking into the market (a place Huey suggested Qui-Gon would find them in easily) when they found Traban and Riley arguing with an alien.

"It's a Dug, and a nasty one at that. Masters Riley and Traban had better be careful." Obi-Wan observed as the Dug flipped the table that the three were sitting at and tried to assault Traban and Riley.

The Dug never even got the chance to do anything more than raise his leg to strike them when he was suddenly slammed against the wall behind. Traban was still seated in his chair calmly while Riley was smirking up a storm as he had the barrel of his a silver-plated pistol-class blast-rifle digging into the cheek of the Dug's sneering face. Huey and the others couldn't hear what Traban was saying or whatever Riley whispered to the Dug right afterward, but when the Dug turned a ghostly pale, that was when they stopped gawking and moved toward the scene.

"Riley, put the scruffy little alien down. We can't afford to be wanted on _this_ rock, too, like we were on Nar Shadda." Cindy said as Riley glanced at her, his smirk gone as he dropped the short stacked alien, who scurried away behind a food stall to glare hatefully at them.

"That was _so_ wizard…" a voice said behind them all as they turned to see Anakin staring at them like they were superstars.

"Maybe, but dangerous none the less." another voice said in a calm tone as they all turned to the side to see Qui-Gon standing there, "He could be well connected in these parts and you should act with a little more caution, Masters."

Anakin obviously didn't hear the "Masters" comment as he nodded quickly to what Qui-Gon had said about the Dug.

"This guy's right, ya know. You guys were headed into some serious trouble. You picked a fight with a Dug; a really dangerous one, at that. He's called Sebulba, and he is well connected." Anakin said as Huey raised a brow while Cindy turned on heel to give her husband and occasional swapping-partner a stern look.

"You two just can't stay out of trouble, can you? You just get here and already picking fights." Cindy said as Traban finally stood from his chair, dusting himself off as he set the table back up using his hands.

"Us? Not at all. Vendors tried to rip us, and then told us to talk to the little guy Dug. Little guy Dug tried to intimidate us and said he'd throttle Riley, so Riley here had a practical lesson for him while we shared a few words of disagreement." Traban sad with an air of innocence as Cindy sighed.

"It seems to me that you can find trouble with your eyes closed." Obi-Wan mused with a shake of his head at the two Jedi Masters. Traban only shrugged as Riley grinned and put away his pistol.

"Regardless, the boy was right in one way." Huey, speaking for the first time with his arms crossed.

"Oh? How so?" Traban asked, raising a brow at his long-time friend/half-brother.

"You two were heading into trouble. You didn't contact us when you got planet-side and were probably doing Skiff knows what for a while before we found you." Huey said with a look that showed he had a guess of exactly what they were doing. Cindy had the same look as Traban scowled lightly at them while Riley did the same.

Obi-Wan and Padme exchanged smiles and knowing looks as they watched two Jedi Masters being scolded like children by their fellow Masters. Right when Traban was about to say something, a loud grumbling sound came from Obi-Wan's stomach. Everyone paused for a second before they all look at him like he had grown an extra head while he chuckled sheepishly.

"Well then, I guess that means I'm hungry." Obi-Wan said as Qui-Gon chuckled at his lame attempts to stop the others from staring.

"Fine, let's find a food stand or something to get something to last until we have dinner. Besides, I'm kind of hungry too, and _you_'re buying me something." Cindy said as she wrapped herself around Riley's arm and started walking the crowded street with the others not far behind.

Huey, Traban, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon all seem to notice that Anakin was following them as they made their way through the streets to find a fruit vendor. Anakin had to admit that he thought he'd never see any of them again, but now he was really curious about the strange outlanders who had both upset and amused Watto. Anakin's eyes kept drifting toward Padme, and then to Cindy who had stopped hanging off of Riley as they walked. Now that he was looking at them, both women were very much beautiful to him. The most beautiful women he had ever seen…

They stopped at a fruit stand run by a jolly, but very poor-looking old lady that Anakin directed them to. He moved forward, speaking to the kindly old lady as the others watched on.

"How are you feeling today, Jira?" Anakin asked as the old woman smiled at him and his new friends.

"The heat's never been kind to me, you know that Annie." Jira said from beneath her shaded chair.

"Well, guess what? I've found that cooling unit I've been searching for in Watto's junkyard. It's pretty beat up, but I'll have it fixed up for you in no time, I promise. Watto even said that I could give it to you free of charge since you're always so nice to him and me." Anakin said as the lady got an excited look on her face while she smiled at him.

"You're a fine boy, Annie. A fine boy, indeed." Jira said as she patted his hand in her own.

"I'll take ten pallies today. Watto let me go early and gave me some money for food." Anakin said before he looked up at Padme with a bright smile, "You'll like these. Jira has the best fruit in all of Tatooine, and they're always so juicy."

"Oh, Annie, stop! You'll make an old woman blush!" Jira said with a small chuckle as the others cracked a smile at her.

Anakin reached into his pocket, getting some coins out as he counts them. He dropped one by mistake and Obi-Wan picked it up, revealing his lightsaber under his cloak for a second as Anakin's eyes widened upon seeing the legendary weapon of the Jedi. Huey and Traban didn't miss the scene as they exchanged looks for a second before deciding not to say anything.

"Seven… eight… nine… Aww, nerf herd! I thought I had more than nine." Anakin said as he counted his coins.

Jira merely chuckled as she waved him off, handing the fruit out anyway as they all smiled at her; even Huey. Cindy looked it over before taking a bite of it. She smiled as she looked at it again, but without the critical gaze.

"It really is sweet and juicy, like a pear." Cindy said as Huey and Obi-Wan gave her a look before they shrugged and took bites of their own like Riley and Padme were doing. Traban, Huey, and Qui-Gon simply stuffed their's into their utility belts for later, but Anakin saw Qui-Gon's lightsaber as well when his cloak went to the side.

Cindy stopped eating, digging into her supply pouch as she took out some Republic credits she had on spare. She looked at Jira, feeling a little guilty that they hadn't paid her.

"Listen… I know that Republic credits aren't any good here-"

"Wait, they're not? How so?" Traban asked as he looked at Cindy in surprise.

"Don't you all know? Most people here in the Outer Rim predict a war will come from that Blockade on Naboo. Planets have already started leaving the Republic due to their concerns not being heard or met by the Senate. Everyone around here uses the Hutts currency, feeling that Republic credits might become useless any day now." Jira said as Traban and the others looked at her in surprise. Huey and Cindy glanced off to Padme's worried face while Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan shared a look.

"Well then, here, Granny. This should be accepted any damn where." Riley said as he reached into his utility belt and pulled out a precious gem while everyone's eyes widen at the size of the thing.

The thing was as big as an eyeball!

"Where the hell did you get that pearl?" Cindy asked as Riley handed it over to Jira, who accepted it with a gaping mouth and shaking hands.

"We're brave knights and we slew a dragon." Traban said as if he were mocking Cindy for her question. It was only Huey and Cindy that knew he wasn't joking while Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon shared amused smiles.

"That should get her a few years worth of money." Traban said as he put his arms together inside of his sleeves.

"Or get the old woman shot…" Huey muttered as Padme gave him a shocked look.

Could it…?

Traban merely shrugged, having heard Huey as he handed over some of the Outer Rim currency he had.

"Oh, did I mention that we also got into it with a few of the local Hutt's guards? Their weapons were so poor that we didn't keep most of them. We chucked their bodies into the nearest dumper out behind a bar, and took their money. We also got a ruby, Riley's new blaster, and some other stuff." Traban said as Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan gaped at him and Riley, who was grinning as he remembered fighting the pig-human hybrids in the bar earlier.

"You _k-killed_ them so needlessly…?" Obi-Wan said in a frightened tone as Traban looked at him in shock.

"What? No, of course not! We stunned them with their own blasters. Killing them would have gotten us into trouble with the bratty Hutt controlling this rock. And we don't want that, do we?" Traban said as if it were common sense.

Qui-Gon didn't even bother with it as he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose while he calmed himself in the Force. They were Jedi Masters far older and more experienced than him. He was only their guide and a watchful eye; he couldn't make judgment calls, that was not the Jedi way.

"Well… at least now we have some currency that will work here." Qui-Gon said in a small attempt to stay positive.

Whatever smart-mouthed response Riley was about make was cut off as they all felt a change in the weather. The winds picked up speed and power quickly over the deserts while Cindy and Traban looked out at them. Huey and the others were watching as shop owners started to close down and board up their stands.

"Oh, gracious me… My bones are aching… A storm's coming on, Annie. You'd better get home quick." Jira said as she rubbed at her arms like she were cold. Anakin looked up at Cindy and Qui-Gon as Traban, Obi-wan, Riley, and Huey moved to help the old woman close down her stand while she thanked them for doing so.

"Do you guys have shelter?" Anakin asked as Qui-Gon and Padme looked down at him.

"We'll just head back to our ship." Qui-Gon said after exchanging a look with his fellow Masters.

"Where is your ship?" Traban asked as they finished helping the old woman and moved down the street, the winds and sands kicking-up even more.

"It's in the spaceport not far from here. Mos Espa is the name of it. It's near the northern outskirts at the edge of this place." Qui-Gon supplied as Traban and Riley nodded.

"You'll never reach it in time. Sandstorms around here are very, _very_ dangerous." Anakin said, stressing the level of danger while Traban and Huey exchanged looks.

"Little man's right. Remember that time at the Great Dune Sea when we were meeting the local Hutt? Us and the ship got buried after only five minutes!" Riley said as Huey nodded in remembrance. That was a bitch to get out of, and even worst was that he had sand in places he didn't know existed…

"Come with me if you don't wanna get caught in this." Anakin said as he moved at a quick pace, "Hurry!"

* * *

><p>The group followed the boy as he rushed down several windy streets, their robes blowing as sand hit their faces. Huey pulled his hood over his afro in a vain attempt to stop the sand from getting into his 'fro. Cindy was spitting out sand every now and then as Traban rubbed at his eyes to get the sand out. Riley looked at Cindy as he shook the sand from his braids, the storm already having made seeing down the street they were going a problem.<p>

"Who is this kid?" Riley asked as Cindy spit out sand.

"I'll tell you later." Cindy said, each word letting sand in her mouth as she spit it out in disgust.

They all followed Anakin down another street and into a hovel of a home which must have been where the boy lived. The kid opened the door to reveal a small living space as they all hurried inside.

"Mom! Mom! I'm home!" Anakin yelled out as Traban scowled at him for being rude while he rubbed at his eyes.

Riley looked around the hovel with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face as he shook his head; both to get the sand out, and in contempt for the warmth and love he could feel from inside home through the Force.

Really, could these people get any cheesier?

"I'd rather be in the sandstorm than this fucking white-ass place…" Riley muttered under his breath as Huey nodded. They had never gotten a cozy home with a parent; all they got was Granddad, and his old ass was still just as old and grouchy as ever.

"Both of you behave, or else." Cindy threatened as Huey scoffed at her while Riley simply turned away just before a woman who looked to be in her early forties came from further in the home to greet them in the living space. Upon seeing the ragtag group in her home, amongst them her own son, the woman looked to have been startled by their presence before she smiled at them.

"Hello… Umm, Annie… What is the meaning of this?" the woman said as she walked over to them.

"These are my friends, Mom. This is Padme, and… umm… I don't know the others…" Anakin said as he looked up at his mom, then down at his feet as he realized that he didn't know the names of the others.

Traban raised a brow at the boy while Riley snorted in amusement. Padme glared over Obi-Wan.

"Well now, someone's gotta crush on you, Miss Padme." Obi-Wan whispered teasingly to Padme, who politely elbowed him in response.

Huey rolled his eyes, but was amused none the less as he, Qui-Gon and Cindy stepped forward and greeted the woman well Traban had Obi-Wan fill him in on the day's experience.

"Hello, Ma'am. I'm Cindy McPhearson and this one," Cindy said as she grabbed onto Riley, "is my husband Riley Freeman. These are his two brothers; Huey Freeman and Traban Tousen. These two are Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi."

R2-D2 whistled in protest at having been forgotten as Riley noticed the droid for the first time. Cindy and the others smiled at the little droid as she gestured toward it.

"I was getting to you! This, of course, is our droid; R2-D2." Cindy said as the woman smiled at it as it beeped in approval.

"I'm building a droid! Do ya wanna see?" Anakin piped in excitedly as he turned to Padme while Traban raised a brow. The kid was easily excitable and crushing on one of the Queen's handmaiden. How fun…

"Anakin…" the boy's mother said slowly as she turned her gaze to him, "Why are they here? You know you have to ask permission to bring friends over first."

The boy was about to answer when the winds outside raged loud enough for them to hear. Huey patted his afro, knocking sand out of it as the boy looked up at his mother.

"A sandstorm came, Mom." Anakin said with a shrug as if it were obvious.

"Your son was kind enough to offer us shelter from it, and we are very much thankful." Qui-Gon said as he stood beside Huey and Cindy in front of Anakin's mother.

"Come on! I'll show you 3PO Threepio!" Anakin said enthusiastically as he grabbed Padme's hand, leading the teenaged girl into another room as R2 and Obi-Wan followed.

Cindy looked to Huey, who was frowning at nothing in particular. She elbowed him and gestured for him to give the woman, Shmi Skywalker, something. Huey grumbled as he dup into his pants' pocket and pulled out a capsule labeled "food" on the side of it. Huey looked around, finding Traban leaning against a wall and tossed the capsule to him.

"Catch." Huey said before he heaved the small metal pod. Traban caught it easily, but glanced between it and Huey in confusion for second. Huey rolled his eyes as he saw Traban finally understand as he walked up to Shmi and bowed slightly.

"Please, Madam Shmi, allow me prepare dinner for all of us. We have more than enough supplies here, and it will be no trouble at all for us to do this, considering you're allowing us to stay here until the storm dissipates." Traban said with a smile on his face as Shmi blushed from his charming smile and kindness.

"Oh… Umm… Well, thank you." Shmi said in surprise as she looked over the group of Jedi Masters unknowingly, "I'm sorry if I seemed abrupt and all before. It's just that my son brings home so many surprises. I don't think I'll ever get used to Anakin's surprises…"

"He sounds like a handful." Cindy commented with a smile as Shmi returned it. Cindy could still remember raising children of her own, and then her first set of grandchildren. She sort of saw why Mr. Freeman was always so grouchy, especially with badass kids like Riley running around with advanced technology such as lightsabers and blasters.

"He is, but my little Anakin is a very special boy to me." Shmi said as Cindy's smile only grew fonder.

"I know the feeling…"

"Huey! There's only vegetables in this thing! Where's the meat, you damn carrot-nibbler?" Traban's voice came from what must have been the kitchen of the Skywalker home.

"We don't need any!" Huey yelled back as Traban's scoff was heard even from where he was. Riley and Cindy looked at Huey like he was crazy and Huey crossed his arms and glared back defiantly.

"Yes, we do! Now get in here with the meat capsule, or else!"

Huey grumbled as he jammed his hand into his pocket and took out another capsule. Shmi moved into the kitchen, fully prepared to help cook the meal when she froze at the door while Huey handed Traban the pod.

"Here." Huey grounded out as Traban thanked him. Huey turned to leave the kitchen when he saw Shmi's state of shock. He tapped Traban, who turned and like Huey raised a brow to her gaping and wide-eyed expression.

"So many green and exotic vegetables… So much food…" Shmi said breathlessly as she saw the large pile of veggies on her kitchen table. Traban shrugged as he pressed the top of the capsule in his hand before tossing it onto the table as well. Shmi watched in amazement as it exploded in a show of bright green smoke before revealing a large metal cube that had several drawers with labels on them ranging from chicken to beef, and fish to pork. Shmi wasn't sure what a cow or a chicken was. Hell, she didn't know what pork was either, but her mouth watered at the mere thought of the exotic tastes and favors of the foods that could be prepared from them and the strange vegetables.

"What'll we cook today?" Traban asked as Huey shrugged.

"Ask her, it's her house." Huey said as he gestured to the still partially stunned woman. Shmi shook her head to clear her thoughts from the awe of the food as she realized that Traban had asked her.

"I don't know. Even uncooked it all looks so good. Anything will be fine. This is still more than we'd eat in a month, so I'm not picky about it." Shmi said as Traban chuckled.

"Well then, tonight, my dear lady, you shall feast like a Queen and your son a Prince. I will make a feast to end all feasts!" Traban declared as a fire of passion burned in his eyes. He loved a good challenge; especially when either fighting or cooking, "Now both of you out. Go on, shoo."

Huey only rolled his eyes with a sigh as he came up to Shmi, "See what you've started now? He'll never stop cooking now until he's used everything to some extent. He'll be in there for hours and you'll be made to tell him where everything is."

"I said to go! Both of you! Gossip, go chat about your hair-styles. I don't care, just do something away from my kitchen." Traban said as he pushed them out while Shmi sputtered out protest about how it was _her_ kitchen, "I don't want to see either you in my kitchen unless called upon. Now go, shoo. Away with you!" Traban finished, ushering the two far out the kitchen before he turned on heel. Shmi turned back to him (since Huey was used to this sort of behavior from Traban) only to see that he was already back inside the kitchen, happily slicing and dicing at vegetables before moving to take out several pots.

Shmi didn't know why, but right then she thought about marrying the guy simply because he enjoyed cooking while she did not. This man was about to truly make a feast for her and her boy simply because of a few unknowing words and a kind favor.

* * *

><p>In Anakin's bedroom, the young lad was showing off his droid, which was lying on his workbench, to his newfound friends. Despite the fact that there was only one eye in the head and that the droid's outer coverings had yet to be adhered to the droid's frame, Obi-Wan and Padme were impressed none the less.<p>

"Isn't he great? He's not finished yet, though." Anakin said as he looked up at Padme, who let her approval show while Obi-Wan only nodded.

"He's wonderful." Padme replied, smiling lightly at his talent.

"You really like him? He's a protocol droid… I'm making him to help my mom." Anakin said as he glanced down at his droid, but back up at Padme with a bright expression, "Watch this!" Anakin said as he pushed a switch on the droid's neck, a low hum filling the room as it sat up quickly.

"Oh dear me… Where is everybody? I can't see!" the droid whined as it swung it's legs over the edge of the table.

"Whoops!" Anakin said as he quickly went to get the droid's other eye, placing it into the empty socket while the eye began to glow. The droid's head lit-up slightly as Padme and Obi-Wan could see it's processing core and spark chambers. It was then the protocol droid seemed to notice them all staring at him.

"Oh... Oh my! Hello there. I am C-3PO, Human-Cyborg Relations droid. How might I be of service?" the droid, C-3PO, asked as it bowed slightly to them.

Obi-Wan raised a brow at the more humble and much more polite nature of C-3PO compared to most other protocol droids. It seemed to him that the droid would have been great with the Jedi Order had they used such things. Padme was just as taken with the courteous attitude of the droid, seeing that it had more of a personality in just those few moments than most droids did.

"He's perfect." Padme said absently as she looked at 3PO, but turned to Anakin's ecstatic face when she realized she had spoken aloud.

"Oh my… Thank you, Miss…?" 3PO said, but trailed off as he didn't know her name.

"Padme."

"Miss Padme. Thank you, Miss Padme." C-3PO said as he gave another stiff bow while still sitting on the work table..

"When the storm is over, I'll show you my racer. I'm building my very own pod-racer." Anakin said proudly, puffing out his chest a little while Obi-Wan quietly snickered from beside Padme, though the elbow to the gut told him he wasn't doing it quietly enough.

Padme smiled at young Anakin's enthusiasm. Even though she was only five years old than him, she felt that in maturity, they were light-years apart. His childish nature was refreshing to her since the most child-like people she dealt with now a days were her ever-loyal Handmaidens that were ready to die for her at any moment. Anakin's maturity for his age was still shown though. He was a great kid. He was kind, light-hearted, and sweet, but he was trying just a little too hard to gain her attention and approval. He reminded her of a little brother who looked up to his big sister, or a son wanting his mother's approval on the things he liked. He even made her think of a kid with no friends trying to fit in at a new Academy.

Like she had when training to be Queen…

But none the less, Anakin was a great kid. She suspected he had never dealt with a crush before, and that such feelings outside of love for his mother had only been of hate, anger, or contempt for life. He was a slave after all, so it made some sense. He loved his mother, put-up with having Watto as a slave master, probably had a few friends he could rely on, and then everything else was just hate for the world (and galaxy) in general for making his life suck.

She really hoped Anakin learned to look pass the negative and see that life wasn't as bad as it could be or as he made it seem.

Padme glanced to her side as she saw Obi-Wan grinning at her with mirth twinkling in his eyes. Obi-Wan was starting to grow on her as well. He seemed so nice, a bit clumsy and goofy, but sweet and naturally charming. Obi-Wan had that sort of personality she thought of as brotherly or one of the male best friend she could easily fall in love with. He was sweet and always seemed ready to turn what could be an awkward or tense moment into a more light-hearted affair. She kind of wished he'd be around her more often in times like these. He made her feel a lot less anxious and worried with his ways. If he wasn't by her side now, then she wasn't sure how she'd feel. She'd probably would look to Anakin with more attention and less humor than she was. She'd probably see the young boy as more interesting and serious, a "true credit to his age" or something like that. Hell, he'd probably be her only outside friend while she was a nervous wreck.

Then there was _him_. Jedi Master Huey Freeman, as she had learned on the ship, was a stern and slightly pessimistic man who couldn't be paid to be any different. He… irked her in ways that she couldn't express without shouting. He treated her kindly enough and was a very pleasant man, don't get her wrong, but he was just so… ugh! She just didn't know! He treated her like he did all others; sarcastically. The only people that didn't get the biting sarcasm were his fellow Jedi Masters, but even then Master Qui-Gon Jinn got it. He talked to her like she was a child, and she _hated_ it! She wasn't a child! She was a Queen dammit! It surprised her later, however, that only he could make her think that her status as a Queen was for anything other than to help her people. He teased her one moment, and the next it was like he was her father telling her to hold his hand as they crossed the streets of Theed. She hated it, and she hated him for it! She surprised herself later (once again) that he could both bring such extreme emotions of annoyance and anger out of her, and that he could make her claim to "hate" anything at all that wasn't an injustice to people everywhere.

However, when she would meet his stern gaze with a glare, and gaze so deeply into those maroon eyes of his… Or when he would scowl at her in challenge against his way of doing things… The feeling of his gaze upon her, looking down at all of her naiveties and innocence… Oh, it made her shiver and shake in a strange _un-disgusted_ way she had never expressed before.

Padme was brought out of her thoughts of Jedi Master Huey Freeman when her attention was drawn to R2-D2, who was letting out a series of beeps and whistles while conversing with C-3PO in a strangely amusing robot way.

"I beg your pardon! What do you mean I'm naked?" C-3PO said, a little more than slightly offended as R2 started beeping again, "My parts are showing? Oh my goodness! How embarrassing!"

* * *

><p>Cindy sighed peacefully with her head in Riley's lap as Huey rubbed her legs absent-mindedly. She was rather enjoying her time in the cozy development of the Skywalker home while talking to Shmi, passing the time. Huey seemed to be in his own little world while he kept glancing off to the room that Anakin and the others disappeared into. Riley wasn't paying attention to anything really as he gently ran his finger through her blonde hair.<p>

Qui-Gon, however, seemed to be mediating when his eyes suddenly opened, his com-link beeping as he reached into his pocket. He bowed out of the room with some grace and politeness.

"If you'll excuse me." Qui-Gon said softly as he bowed out of the room and went towards an upper level, stepping into the overhang. He saw that it was blocked off from the actual outside by a greenery glass of sorts. He watched as the sandstorm raged outside the glass for a moment before he answered his com-link.

"This is Qui-Gon. Go ahead." Qui-Gon said as he brought the com-link to his face.

His eyes narrowed as listened intently while Jazmine and Ming explained the message that the ship had received from a supposed Bibble before they talked about the Queen's reaction.

"We've kept them from sending a reply. It's such obvious bait to try and establish a connection trace." Ming said while Qui-Gon nodded to himself in thought.

"If we never accused the Trade Federation of being sneaky before, then we most certainly can now. These Nemodians that are in charge are bent on capturing the Queen more so than we initially thought." Jazmine mused, her voice a tone between worry and weary.

"I sense that it is true. However, what you said about her people is true. The people of Naboo are dying… and slowly at that." Qui-Gon said sorrowfully while he heard Jazmine and Ming sigh sadly on the other end of the link.

"Either way, Qui-Gon, we're running out of time." Jazmine said as Ming nodded beside her.

"I know… I'll check back after the storm has passed. Qui-Gon out." Qui-Gon said before shutting off his com-link.

Qui-Gon turned back into the house, intent on getting some must needed rest after a meal. It was when Qui-Gon raised his weary eyes to the room he was entering back into, did he realize it was the kitchen. The only reason he came to this realization was because his mouth dropped agape and drooled at the sight of a king's feast while his eyes bugged out of his head. He vaguely noticed Shmi watching Traban put the finishing touches on the dinner he had been working on for hours on end as well before he realized with a start that Traban was talking while he worked.

"… and so I cook anything and everything that isn't easy-go or processed. None of the others can cook to save their lives, not even Huey. I mean, simple things that anyone else could do by reading off a box, yes, but I'm the true chef of the kitchen while we're all together." Traban said as he sprinkled some sort of spice over one of the many delicious looking dishes that he had prepared. Traban grinned as he glanced from Shmi to Qui-Gon like he was about to share with them a secret of sorts, "In fact, there was this one time when Cindy, the great woman and Jedi Master that she is, burned water on a stove and set the kitchen a flame. I wasn't there that day, but thankfully Huey wasn't to keen on our home going up in flames, so he had a extinguisher handy that day. I mean, Cindy, Ming, Jazmine, Huey, and Riley are all great at many, _many_ thing, but cooking is not one of them."

"Give Ming an opponent or a physical challenge and she'll leave your jaw on the floor; in more ways than one. Give Riley a target to shoot or a capture mission and he'll shoot sharp each and every time. Give Huey a situation and he'll have it figured out before you could finish. Give Cindy a prisoner to interrogate and she'll get answers and a deal out of them faster than you can make it to the door. Give Jazmine a patient and she'll fix them up better than they were before. Now give any of those five something mechanical to fix and they'll be fine. But, put any of them in a kitchen and tell them to cook something that isn't from a can or box, and you'll need a new kitchen in under five minutes. I promise you the old kitchen will need to be declared a public hazard if you don't stop them by a ten minute mark." Traban said as he washed his hands and dried them before moving to the table and setting the food and table. Shmi and Qui-Gon moved to help him as he gave them a smile for doing so.

"Is it really that bad?" Shmi asked in a mirthful tone while Traban gave her a deadpan look.

"Cindy, Ming, Jazmine, and Riley once cooked for my birthday. I was on a mission at the time, and so they sent the food through an instant-port transporter so I could try it. The mission involved stopping a group of pirates, and I was captured with their meal in my hands. The pirates locked me in their brig and took the food, saying that they'd be sure everyone on board would get a bit; all except for me. I begged and pleaded with them, but they wouldn't listen. They ate the food anyway. Ten minutes later I wept for the poor souls as they slowly died painful deaths; only one survived to be jailed. After the mission when I reported to the Council about it, they declared anything that dangerous as an agent of chemical warfare." Traban said, not once grinning or smirking, but looking rather somber as his head bowed slightly. Shmi and Qui-Gon exchanged looks of disbelief as Traban sighed sadly, though when he chuckled afterward they both sighed in relief that he was joking.

Or was he…?

"So, how long have you been a Jedi?" Shmi asked as Traban glanced at her, his eyes showing some respect for her having caught on to his slip of words. It wasn't like she could do anything, or that they were really hiding. They just needed to be sure no one learned of the Naboo Queen being with them.

"As long as Master Yoda, which is… over eight hundred years. I think it's been eight hundred and nine, but I could be wrong on that." Traban said, putting some serious thought into just how long he had been doing the Jedi thing while Shmi regarded him with a look of shock.

"H-how is that possible? You and your friends don't look any older than an 18 years-old, 21 at the most." Shmi said as Traban grinned at her.

"Me and my fellow companions that I've named come from a species of Near-Humans with borderline immortal longevity. We can appear as any age under thirty years-old that we want to, but some of us completely stop aging at a specific age." Traban explained as Shmi looked speechless.

"I myself am curious to your race as well, Master Traban. I was there when Master Huey arrived to the Temple, and I read a data-pad summary of your people. They seemed quite well in all aspects of their time those few years before their destruction. I am glad that you and the other Master were able to revive your people." Qui-Gon said as Traban nodded.

"Yes, it was a little hard at first. Being Jedi, raising kids, the girls being pregnant, but I think it got better with time. After the first three children, we stopped and let our kids grow up. They became Jedi, Senators, or whatever they wanted to be before they too had children. Then their children had children and so on and so forth. We've had more children throughout the years. We've had more spouses too, but I think it's our love for one another that keeps the six of us together as a main connection." Traban said as he smiled into the air, seemingly gazing into his thoughts with that warm smile.

Qui-Gon was about to say something when they heard Anakin's muffled voice from behind a walk that Qui-Gon noticed must have been the room that the boy had brought Padme and Obi-Wan into. Shmi turned to the wall with smile before she looked back to Traban and Qui-Gon.

"He's just so proud of his droid. He found it and put it back together, and I'm so proud of his talents." Shmi said as Traban patted her shoulder fondly.

"I know how you feel. Watching my sons, daughters, grandchildren, and descendants grow up and discover their talents was and _still is_ a beautiful thing to behold." Traban said fondly as he turned to Qui-Gon, "I'm sure you feel the same way about young Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon."

"Yes, Obi-Wan is like a son to me, and I'm proud to say that I foresee him becoming a powerful and noble Jedi in the future." Qui-Gon said with a smile as he felt his somber mood completely lift while he recalled memories of training Obi-Wan and their time together as Master and Apprentice.

"_Not much longer until he takes the Trials. Perhaps even after this mission is through. There is nothing more I can teach him, and he's grown into a fine young man. I'd be proud to call him Knight Kenobi, and have him stand alongside me as a colleague and brother Jedi Knight_." Qui-Gon thought right before a noise gained all of their attention. It was right when they were about to get up and see what had happened did Ben's voice sound after a droid's calling for it's master.

"It's alright! We've gotten everything under control!" Obi-Wan yelled as Shmi looked worried for Anakin's safety. Traban merely chuckled with a shrug when the other two adults looked at him.

"Kids, they are just impossible to ignore. Kids, with their crazy music and their rock-and-roll! Why can't kids be like we were; perfect in everyway. What's the matter with kids today?" Traban sang lightly as Shmi and Qui-Gon were both deeply confused by the sudden song, but after thinking about it, both burst into laughter at it.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile on Coruscant, amongst the ever-present sky-traffic walked two cloak-clad figures, conversing with one another as they reached a railing which over-looked out over the sprawling cityscape and setting suns of the Core World and Galactic Republic capital.<p>

The light reflected off a passing sky-car, revealing the red and black tattoos covering the Zabrak's face while he had turned to regard his Master; the Dark Lord of the Sith.

"Tatooine is sparsely populated, Master. If the trace was accurate, I will find them rather quickly." the Sith Apprentice said with a small nod of his head in respect to his Master, whose only show of having heard and listened to him was a small incline of his head before he spoke. His voice rasped out in a high cold whisper, as if speak was beneath him like all other positives in life.

"Move against the Jedi first, Maul. Once you have dealt with them, you will have no difficulty in taking the Queen to Naboo to sign the treaty." the Sith Lord said as the Zabrak Sith named Maul nodded.

Maul looked out at the skyline, a smirk appearing on his face as he thought over killing the Jedi. They were so weak, so arrogant in their complacence's of power and peace. They would soon learn that their age old enemy; the Sith, had not been gone for a so long without reason.

They were coming back to take over, bitches!

"At long last, we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last, we will have revenge." Darth Maul said with a feral smirk on his face while still looking out over the cityscape.

Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith, looked out city as well. The ignorant fools were so unaware, it sickened him deeply. Going about their daily lives, blissfully unaware of their own impending doom. Sidious looked to Maul with only the faintest hint of a smile on his face, and Maul grew a bit fearful. His Master only smiled like that either when he was punishing (or about to punish) someone, or when he was enjoying the pain and ignorance of others. Maul held his breath until he knew which one it was, because he didn't want his lungs fried if his Master suddenly decided to strike out at him with Sith Lightning or such.

"You have been well trained, my apprentice. They will be no match for you." Sidious said as he laid a hand on the railing, his eyes glancing to Maul as a fire lit in the young Apprentice's eyes.

It was now time, for the Phantom Menace to spring forth from the shadows and strike at the hearts of the Good and the Jedi Light.

* * *

><p>The storm outside in the world of Tatooine continued to howl as everyone gathered around the table for a rather large home-cooked meal. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme's eyes all widened at the mere size of the feast sat before them. Traban stood behind his chair, leaning on it coolly as he gestured a graceful hand toward the meal.<p>

"I present, your dinner. Le' Bon' Appetite'…" Traban said in a French accent that was off, but no one cared as they began to sank into the meal with gusto.

It wasn't look before they calmed themselves enough to make some small talk while still enjoying their meal. Traban was serving up food while the droids had prepared to power down until they were needed.

"This meal is amazing, Mr. Tousen! So many flavors and meats, and flora! It's just… wow!" Shmi said as Traban took a sit, chuckling as he did.

"My dear Shmi, this is nothing. I don't brag much, but cooking for my friends turned family over the many years has made this sort of meal seem easy. Please, just enjoy it while it lasts. And you may call me Traban if you'd like." Traban said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"So, what's this about slaving? Anything we should know?" Riley asked suddenly as four sets of eyes darted to him before they landed on Shmi to see if she or Anakin had taken offense. Neither did, but Anakin seemed to glance at Padme while Padme and Obi-Wan were confused about the topic change.

"Well… All slaves have these transmitters placed inside their bodies somewhere-" Shmi was saying before Anakin butt in suddenly.

"I've been working on a scanner to try and locate them, but so far I haven't had any luck." Anakin said with a look at Padme, who seemed impressed that he could built something she barely knew how to work.

"And, if you ever made any attempt to escape-" Shmi was saying, but once again Anakin cut in.

"-and they blow you up… BOOM!" Anakin said as he raised his height to better express his point.

"Anakin, it's rude to interrupt." Traban scolded lightly as he sipped his drink, giving Anakin a sharp look over the rim of his cup.

Padme, however, looked horrified at the mere thought of people exploding, and even more so at the thought of slavery.

"I can't believe there is still slavery in the galaxy. The Republic's anti-slavery laws-"

"We learned a long time ago that the Republic doesn't exist out here." Cindy said with her eyes closed as she drank from her own cup while Padme and everyone else more or less turned to her, "The people of the Outer Rim must survive on their own."

"Add in if your wealthy enough, you can do pretty much anything. Even on Coruscant, the wealthy have slaves. Twi'lek females are prime examples." Huey said as he put his hands together before him with his elbows on the table. Obi-Wan nodded as he thought of several of his fellow Padawans who escaped a similar fate by being found and taken in by the Jedi Order.

"True, but don't forget that many of the Twi'leks go into such businesses of their own choice; whether cultural or otherwise." Traban said with hand gesture that made his argument more casual than anything.

"Yes, and I'm afraid we can't dive any further into that debate around our present company." Huey said as he leaned back in his chair. Traban nodded as he cast a quick glance at both Cindy and Riley who sighed and nodded. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan exchanged looks from across the table, and Padme seemed just as confused as Anakin. Shmi, however, seemed to change onto whatever they were playing at as she shook her head and gave them all a smile.

"I don't hold it against any of you." Shmi said as Traban and Cindy smiled back at her. Huey and Riley merely nodded as Qui-Gon quirked a brow.

"Umm… Has anyone seen a pod-race?" Anakin asked, filling in what he thought to be an awkward silence, and a change to something he could talk about without feeling small or dumb.

Padme shook her head no, while Shmi looked at Anakin in concern, almost as if he'd burst into flames on the spot if she wasn't watching him.

"Well, Riley here used to swoop race in his younger days. Isn't that right, Riles?" Traban said while an amused smirk as Riley gave him a glare from the other side of the table.

"I hate yo ass…" Riley mouthed to Traban as Anakin turned to him with curiosity in his eyes along with Shmi.

"Swoop racing? What's that?" Anakin asked as Riley sighed.

"It's well before your time, little man." Riley said with a grin as he settled back in his chair, "It's like this pod-racing, but before they added those big engines. Back when it was more about skill and cunning, rather than the power of some damn engine."

"I too once witnessed a pod-race, along with Qui-Gon Jinn here. They have pod-racing on the planet Malastare. I've always believe it was very fast, and very dangerous." Obi-Wan spoke up, hoping to join in on the conversation. Padme looked at him, and shrugged, not having anything to offer to the discussion.

"I'm the only human who can do it." Anakin boasted as Shmi looked at her son with narrowed eyes. Riley seemed interested now as he leaned forward in his chair while Qui-Gon quirked a brow. Anakin finally seemed to catch the look his mother was giving him as he raised his hands in defense.

"Mom, what? I'm not bragging! Its true! Watto says he's never heard of a human doing it before." Anakin said in his own defense as Riley scoffed and Cindy stomped his foot under the table.

"You must have Jedi reflexes if you race pods." Cindy said with a smile as Riley's eye twitched in pain.

Anakin's face lit up like Christmas had come. He was about to go into an excited rant of some kind, but when he was bringing his hands over his head to yell happily he knocked over his cup. Huey rolled his eyes as he snatched the cup out of the air easily, and placed it back on the table; all without spilling a drop of the blue milk inside. Anakin looked at him in amazement as Huey shrugged.

"I could do things like that, years before I even knew the Jedi existed." Huey said with a casual shrug, his words careful not to reveal anything to the child.

Kid might go blabbing about them to the whole planet and then their cover would be blown.

"Yeah, because Huey here was a martial arts master at around your age, Anakin. He was self-taught, too. Had reflexes like a ninja." Traban said with a wink as he shot Huey a grin while Huey gave him a hard look.

Anakin looked between Traban and Huey before he turned to Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon looking somewhat conflicted. Cindy and Riley both twitched at just how easily his feeling were felt through the Force. All the Jedi at the table could feel the boy's conflict between being polite and his own curiosity. Finally, the boy took a deep breath and calmed himself as he looked up at Obi-Wan, who only raised a brow in response.

"I was w-wondering…" Anakin began nervously as Cindy smiled at him. The boy was just so cute, all flustered and nervous like he was.

"What is it, little Annie?" Cindy asked with an encouraging smile as Anakin gave her an annoyed look.

"You're a Jedi Knight, aren't you?" Anakin said, looking directly at Obi-Wan as he spoke, but everyone could tell the question was directed at the others as well.

"And what makes you say that?" Obi-Wan countered coolly as he leaned back in his chair while Qui-Gon gave him an approving look.

"I saw your laser sword earlier. Only Jedi carry that kind of weapon." Anakin said as he cast a glance at Qui-Gon as well, that one look saying that he had been caught as well.

Qui-Gon leaned back in his seat just as Obi-Wan had, a small smile on his face as he shared a look with his Padawan.

"Perhaps we've killed Jedi, and stole the weapons from them." Qui-Gon said with a smooth gesture of his hand.

Oh yeah, he was smooth…

Anakin shook his head in disagreement quickly, as if the very thought of that was so very wrong, "I don't think so. No one can kill a Jedi Knight." Anakin said with conviction. Huey wasn't sure if to scoff at him, or be amused by the young boy's strong idol-worship beliefs.

However, that moment of ironic confusion soon faded as he recalled nearly every Jedi he had ever seen die in front of him. So many of them… it was almost unbearable for him, so he could only imagine how Cindy, Traban, and Riley were handling the waves of the Force reminding them that they weren't infallible nor un-killable.

"I wish that were so…" Qui-Gon said quietly with a far away look in his eye. He had never felt the Force react so stronger to such a simple comment as he did just then with Anakin's words. Traban wasn't looking at anyone and Riley was staring at his hands on the table while Cindy looked to be near tears.

Anakin, unaware that there was an awkward silence in which he helped to create, moved on with his own agenda.

"I had a dream I was a Jedi. I came back here, and freed all the slaves. Have you come to free us?" Anakin said as all the present Jedi looked startled for a second. Traban and Cindy found their cups quite interesting while Huey leaned back and crossed his arms coolly. Riley and Obi-Wan looked at each before everyone looked at Qui-Gon.

Qui-Gon seemed to not even think about whether or not he wanted to be direct. Qui-Gon leant back once again and shook his head, "No, I'm afraid not-" Qui-Gon started, but Anakin cut him off.

"I think you have. Why else would you be here?" Anakin said, almost demanding the answer as some unknown emotion burned in his eyes.

"Anakin, it's rude to interrupt." Shmi said firmly as Anakin turned on her quickly, but looked sheepish as she gave him a motherly glare that said she was to be obeyed. Anakin looked down at the table in front of him as Riley and Cindy watched him closely while Huey and Traban shared a look. Qui-Gon glanced at Obi-Wan, who nodded while Padme felt a little awkward sitting in the silence.

Qui-Gon seemed to rethink his approach as he leaned forward with a smile and sipped from his cup.

"I can see there's no fooling you, Anakin. You can't let anyone know about us. We're on a diplomatic mission to Coruscant, the central system in the Republic. It's a very important mission, and must be kept a secret." Qui-Gon said as Traban and Huey glanced quickly at him with frowns in place. He hadn't revealed anything truly important, but revealing just about anything at all on a mission as sensitive as theirs was not a very good idea.

"Coruscant? Wow!" Anakin said, his eyes widening in amazement at the mention of the Galactic Capital, "But… how did you end up here in the Outer Rim?"

"Anakin." Shmi said, not wanting her son to be nosy about their mission.

"Our ship was badly damaged." Padme said, getting a look from all the present Jedi. She didn't care though as she continued on, "And we're stranded here until we can repair it."

Huey narrowed his eyes at Padme while his scowl depended. Was this girl trying to get herself killed? Cindy and Obi-Wan seemed to be thinking along the same lines as they were both sending the young girl disapproving looks and frowns.

"I can help! I can fix anything!" Anakin said excitedly as Shmi seemed to be losing her calm with Anakin's outbursts.

"Anakin!" Shmi admonished as Anakin went back to looking at the table.

Traban shot Huey a look and Huey returned it with a subtle nod toward Padme. Traban raised a brow and inclined his head toward her with Huey nodding his confirmationan. Traban rolled his eyes as Huey shrugged.

"I believe you can." Qui-Gon said to Anakin, a twinkle in his eye as he gazed across the table at the young blond boy.

"But we still need to acquire the parts in order to fix it." Obi-Wan said as Qui-Gon quieted him with a look.

"And nothing to trade." Padme said with a sigh, oblivious to the looks she was getting from the four unconventional Jedi Masters and Obi-Wan, "These junk dealers must have a weakness of some kind."

"That would be gambling, my young friend." Traban said as he swirled his cup in his hand, looking pointedly at Padme. The girl shivered from the cold look in his eyes while Shmi nodded in agreement to his statement, oblivious to the look.

"Yes, he's right." Shmi said with a frown, "Everything around here revolves around betting on those awful races." Shmi finished with a look as Cindy quirked a brow at the look on the woman's face.

"Greed can be a powerful ally." Qui-Gon said as Riley nodded.

"If used properly." Huey said while leaning back coolly as Cindy nodded. Qui-Gon frowned at him, getting the feeling that he was on a mission with Master Mace Windu instead. The scowl on Huey's face as he held Qui-Gon's gaze only helped to reinforce the feeling.

"I've built a racer!" Anakin blurted out as Shmi quickly sent a look at him.

"Anakin!" Shmi said sternly in warning, but the boy didn't seem to notice her tone.

"It's the fastest ever… and there's a big race day after tomorrow, on Boonta Eve! You could enter my pod! It's nearly finished-" Anakin pressed on as Traban quirked a brow.

"Then how could it be the fastest if he hasn't even finished it." Traban muttered to Huey, who smirked a bit.

"Anakin, settle down, and you know Watto won't let you." Shmi said, trying to remain calm while the Jedi and Padme were merely watching.

"Watto doesn't know I built it." Anakin said, looking at Qui-Gon with pleading eyes, "You could make him think it's yours, and you could get him to let me pilot it for you."

Cindy laid a hand on Qui-Gon's arm, to stall his answer while Traban observed the frown that had formed on Shmi's face at the mere mention of Anakin in a pod-race.

"I don't want you to race, Annie… it's awful and dangerous. I die a little every time Watto makes you do it." Shmi said, baring her true emotions on the subject at hand. Anakin didn't seem to catch on, or he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to care.

"But mom… I love it. And they need help… they're in trouble. The prize money would more than pay for the parts they need…" Anakin said, pleading with his mom as Cindy had Huey touch the boy on the arm. Anakin looked up at Huey, who motioned to a smiling Cindy.

"That's enough of that, squirt." Cindy said as she raised her cup, "And besides, we're not in that much trouble."

Traban stood up and bowed gracefully to Shmi, "I'm sorry if our discussion has caused you any pain." Traban said, his tone respectful and somewhat sincere. Shmi was sure he was, if only a little, as he sat back down.

"But-" Anakin said and then looked at his mother.

"Your mother is right, Anakin." Huey said firmly, cutting the boy off as he looked at Huey with wide eyes and a fearful expression.

"Do you know of anyone friendly to the Republic out here who might be able to help us?" Padme asked as Huey scoffed at her while Riley and the others nearly did the same.

Shmi shook her head as Padme sighed.

"Mom, we have to help them! You said that the biggest problem in the universe is that no one is willing to help each other." Anakin whined, more for his chance to race than their problem.

Hey, if you can kill two Sand-people with one blaster, why not?

"Anakin… don't…" Shmi began.

"We don't want to put your son in any danger. We'll just find another way." Padme said, seeing the look on Shmi's face and Anakin's whining.

Shmi sighed tiredly while thinking hard on the subject. It was minutes of long silence as everyone watched her think before she turned to Traban specifically, "Annie's right, there is no other way. The Hutts control everything here. I may not like it, but he can help you." Shmi said before she muttered to herself, but they all heard her, "He was meant to help you."

"Is that a yes? That is a yes!" Anakin said before he started whooping in excitement. The young boy didn't bother to excuse himself as he ran to his workroom. The others stared after him as Shmi sighed, putting her head in her hands.

"We'll try to keep him as safe as possible, ma'am." Qui-Gon said respectfully as Shmi looked up at him.

"Please do…"

* * *

><p>"How did thinks get to this?" Traban asked as he sat on the outside terrace watching the sand and winds rage from behind the safety glass.<p>

"I don't know, but I do know that some people shouldn't have opened their mouths." Huey said, shooting annoyed looks at both Qui-Gon and Padme.

"What do you mean? As I see it, we now have a way of securing the funds we need to complete our trek to Coruscant." Qui-Gon said calmly, though his tone held the lightest of edge to it for having his actions questioned.

"Yes, and now you've endangered these two people and perhaps this planet in the process." Traban pointed out as he didn't even turn to the others while he simply continued to gaze out at the storm.

"I was merely doing the will of the Living Force. It seems to converge on the boy. I sense that he will play a major part in fate of the galaxy." Qui-Gon said, stepping toward his fellow Masters with a narrowed gaze.

"But there were other ways to get the money. We could have gone out into the deserts and got a few pearls off a dragon." Riley said from his spot leaning against a wall, his arms crossed as Qui-Gon turned to him.

"And _you_, girl." Huey said, his stern gaze on Padme as she turned to him, "You had _no_ place in commenting on the subject. We're here to protect your _Queen_, and _you_ have just placed _her_ in even _more_ danger with that. Telling them we had no money only led us to this point we're at now; having to protect _you_, your _Queen_, the ship, and now the Skywalkers." Huey said as Padme glared at him.

"I'm sorry, okay? I _thought_ we could use some _help_!" Padme said as Huey glared at her, making her fall silent.

"Help needed or not, _we_ are the ones running this mission. Any slip of the tongue in situations like these could cost us more than just our lives." Huey practically hissed in anger at her as Cindy stepped between them.

"Enough! Look, we've got a hand in this game, so let's play it. When the storm dies down, Traban will contact Jazmine and Ming on the ship and tell them what's going on here. Riley will go with Traban, Huey, and me to see if we can't help in the finishing of this pod-racer. Qui-Gon you'll watch over the Skywalkers and Padme here." Cindy said as Padme glanced at Obi-Wan.

"What about Obi-Wan?" Padme asked as Huey gave her another look.

"That's your problem, girl. Don't worry about him, us, or anyone else. Just worry about your _Queen's_ problems and let us handle this mission." Huey said as Padme glared at him, but Cindy put a hand on her shoulder. Padme looked up to the older woman, and saw that she was not amused in the least.

"He's right Padme, your _Queen's_ problems should be most important to you right now. For her people, you can't afford to lose focus. She needs you, her people need you, and you _don't_ need other worries distracting from that _nor_ them." Cindy said as Padme sighed and nodded, knowing that Cindy was right, but hating the fact that it was probably exactly what Huey was trying to say.

"Umm… What _about_ me, Madam Cindy?" Obi-Wan asked as Cindy quirked a blonde brow.

"You'll head back to the ship when the storm clears. I'm sorry, Ben, but we can't afford to worry for a Padawan-" Cindy said as Traban finally looked at the others.

"No, allow Ben to stay." Traban said as he rose from the bench near glass, "He can help Qui-Gon protect this young girl and the two Skywalkers. It'd be better that way since bringing either Ming or Jazmine off the ship could decrease the ships protection. If Jazmine leaves then they won't have a medic on hand in case of attack, and if Ming leaves, then there goes a major hitter for the ship's protection and defense." Traban finished as he walked over to the others.

"Fine then, that's the plan. We fix the racer, Ben and Qui-Gon protect the civilians, and Jazmine and Ming remain on the ship to protect the Queen." Cindy said as her fellow Jedi Masters nodded.

* * *

><p>"Well? What do ya think of it?" Anakin asked as he showed them the pod-racer he was working on.<p>

It was the next morning and they had immediately set out on their plans right after the sandstorm passed. Traban had went off to make contact with Ming and Jazmine in person while Cindy and the others were crowded around Anakin's racer.

"This is gonna suck so hard…" Cindy muttered to herself, looking at the pod with a groan before she decided the sky was far more interesting than the heap of junk in front of her.

Riley looked at the racer, scratching the back of his head in confusion before he turned to his brother, "What the hell is this?"

"A pod-racer…" Huey said unsurely, "Apparently…"

"Esco" Cindy called as Riley looked at her.

"Yeah, C-murph?" Riley said as she turned to him.

"Do you have a grenade on you?" Cindy asked as everyone froze.

"Yeah." Riley replied as he pulled out a thermal plasma-grenade, "What? You want me to ice little man, here?" Anakin looked up at Riley in surprise and fear while Cindy shook her head. Padme, Obi-Wan, and even Qui-Gon all had breathed sighs of relief they didn't know about.

"No, but if things don't go as planned, you're going to meet Watto as a mad terrorist. You get in and out with the engine stored in a capsule." Cindy said, giving Riley a serious glance as he nodded with a grin.

"Yes, ma'am!" Riley said with a mock salute, his joy of blowing things and people up rising at the mere thought that he might be able to.

"Traban is back from… wherever he was." Shmi told them as Traban came to them a few minutes later looking quite annoyed.

"Ming is a little… annoyed at the fact she has been made to stay on the ship. Even Jazmine too is growing impatient with their time there and in the presence of the Queen." Traban said, his eye twitching as Huey shrugged.

"I'll talk to them later." Huey said as Traban sighed and nodded.

"Alright, we have work to do people. Qui-Gon and I can go talk to Watto, while you all stay here and work on this… pod-racer." Cindy said, giving the thing an undefined look, "If all goes as planned, we'll be off this planet right after the Boonta Eve. Come along Anakin."

"Right, well then…" Traban said as he, Riley, and Huey pulled off their robes. Each of them standing there in tunics, though Riley's was sleeveless showing his arms up to his shoulders, "Let's get to work."

"I'll start on the engine. You and Huey can handle the two turbines and the hover-tech faster than I can." Riley said as he took out a capsule from his pocket.

Riley pressed the top of the capsule before tossing it to the ground ten meters away from him. It exploded in a cloud of smoke before revealing an entire auto-shop with tools and everything inside. Padme and Obi-Wan were amazed by it as they wandered inside along with Shmi.

"Alright then, let's get this thing inside." Huey said as Traban nodded, using the Force to lift the pod with Riley and Huey's help while they levitated it inside the garage part of the portable auto-shop.

"You know, I could make an AutoZone joke right now." Traban said before he pulled a face, "But I'm not sure it'd be in good taste."

* * *

><p>Entering the shop, Cindy sighed as she saw the Toydarian hovering by the counter while he was arguing with Anakin in Huttese. Watto must have noticed her and Qui-Gon enter as he flew over to them quickly and gave them a narrow-eyed look while Anakin remained at the counter.<p>

"The boy tells me you wanna sponsor him in the race. You can't afford parts for your own ship, so how is it you can do this? Not on Republic credits, I think." Watto said with a small humorless laugh.

"Two of my favorite boys in the whole galaxy have already acquired enough for the entry fee doing some… odd jobs." Cindy said with shrug as Watto looked a bit nervous at the mention of "odd jobs", though the alien hid it well.

"Besides, if that's not enough for the entry fee, then our ship will be used." Qui-Gon said as he pulled out a small holo-pad from his pocket.

Traban had gotten the holo-image of the ship while he was talking to Jazmine and Ming before he handed it off to them while they were leaving. Qui-Gon pressed the button on the side of the holo-emitter, and a hologram image of their Naboo spacecraft appeared. Watto studied it critically before he gave a cool, uncaring shrug.

"Hmm… Unless your… _boys_ are Jango Fett or something, then they won't get enough credits in time to matter from their… _odd jobs_." Watto said before his boy yellow eyes narrowed in on the holo-image of their ship again, "This however… not bad, not bad… Nubian…"

Qui-Gon and Cindy almost smirked at the greed in the gruff alien's eyes.

"It's in good working order, except for the parts we need." Cindy said as Watto looked at her before he started thinking with his brain and not his wallet.

"Hmm… but what would the boy ride in the race? He smashed up my pod in the last race. It will take some time to fix it…" Watto pondered as Anakin looked a bit miffed as he walked over to them.

"It wasn't my fault, really!" Anakin said, trying to defend his slate and skills in racing, "Sebulba flashed me with his vent ports. I actually saved the pod… umm… mostly."

Cindy and Qui-Gon exchanged looks while Watto laughed at the boy's pride in his racing skills.

"That you did, eh." Watto said as he looked down on Anakin with almost a kind smile before he looked to Cindy and Qui-Gon with pride in his eyes, "The boy is good, no doubts there, eh?"

Cindy nodded in agreement, if only to keep the ploy going.

"We have… acquired a pod in a game of chance." Qui-Gon said as he exchanged a glance with Cindy and Anakin, "We're told it's the fastest ever built."

Watto looked thoughtful and leaned back into the air and tapped his finger-tips together, " Well… I hope your… _boys_ didn't kill anyone I know for it." Watto said with a nervous laugh before continuing, "So, you supply the pod and the entry fee; I supply the boy, we split the winnings fifty-fifty. Right, me thinks?"

Cindy mentally rolled her eyes at the hustle the blue alien was trying to get away with. She was used to Traban's double-talk, Huey's aggressive/sarcastic negotiations, and Riley's cutting ways of business, this guy was a joke compared to her three boys.

"Fifty-fifty? If its going to be fifty-fifty, then I suggest you front the money for the entry fee. If we win, you keep all the winnings; minus the cost of the parts I need. If we lose, then you keep our ship." Cindy said, walking in a calm manner around the alien as he watched her closely.

Watto hovered in the air while thinking the deal over with narrowed eyes. Anakin was standing slightly behind the Toydarian, trying hard not to fidget nervously. Qui-Gon seemed to catch the same thoughts as Cindy as he stepped forward.

"Either way, you'll end up winning." Qui-Gon said as Watto's eyes filled with greed.

"Deal." Watto said quicker than he wanted to. He slapped hands with Qui-Gon and nodded to Cindy as they quickly turned and left from the shop to see how the pod-racer was coming along.

Watto looked at Anakin as they leaving, unaware that the two heard him when he said, "_Your new friends are foolish ones, me thinks_." in Huttese.

* * *

><p>Late in the day, Obi-Wan approached Qui-Gon and the other Masters with Padme outside the Skywalker home while in the shade of the capsule-model auto-shop.<p>

"What if this plan fails, Masters? We could be stuck here for a very long time then." Obi-Wan said as Riley looked at him while Huey raised a brow. Traban and Cindy weren't paying very much attention as they were fixing up the pod-racer.

"Ben, a ship without a damn engine ain't go work." Riley reminded the Padawan.

"Besides, there's something about this Anakin boy…" Qui-Gon said as Obi-Wan looked to him, but didn't say anything as all of them saw Shmi come from the house with Anakin and R2-D2 to help on the engines of the pod-racer.

"You should be very proud of your son. He gives without any thought of reward." Qui-Gon said with a small smile as he and the others watched Obi-Wan, Padme, Anakin, and R2-D2 go over to help Traban and Cindy.

"He knows nothing of greed, despite being surrounded by it. He has…" Shmi said, trailing off as Qui-Gon glanced at her.

"He has special powers." Qui-Gon said as Shmi nodded.

"Yes." Shmi answered as Huey and Riley glanced over at the her and Qui-Gon.

"He can see things before they happen. That's why he appears to have such quick reflexes. It is a Jedi trait." Qui-Gon said as Huey rolled his eyes.

"He deserves better than a slave's life." Shmi said softly as she watched her son with a mix of emotion.

"The Force is unusually strong with him, that much is clear to anyone. Who was his father?" Qui-Gon said as Shmi looked embarrassed for some reason. Cindy was coming over while she wiped her hands clean with a rag.

"There was no father that. None that I know of." Shmi said while looking down at the sand beneath her feet, "I carried him, I gave birth to him… I can't explain what happened."

"A miracle birth." Huey said while his eyes stayed locked on Anakin's work, "It's rare, but not unheard of. There was supposedly another from the planet I and my friends were raised on. He was born with from no biological father. He helped many people when he discovered that he was born of a higher power, but his death was what had the most impact. He helped change the way of the planet… supposedly." Huey said as Riley scoffed lightly and Cindy elbowed him.

Shmi looked from Huey to Qui-Gon with pleading eyes, now seeing Anakin could have a much better future if what Huey was saying was true, "Can you help him?"

Qui-Gon sighed tiredly as he looked back at Shmi.

"I'm afraid not. You see, had he born in the Republic-"

"Or around our time." Cindy said, as she placed a hand on Shmi's shoulder.

"Then the Jedi would have identified him early, and he would have become a Jedi, no doubt about it. He has the aura about him. But now…" Qui-Gon said, trailing off as Huey rolled his eyes.

"Now its too late for him. By the _esteemed_ Council's standards and the way of the new Jedi Code, the boy is too old." Huey said, his arms crossed as Qui-Gon looked away.

"Blind fools…" Qui-Gon muttered quietly as Shmi looked away while Cindy patted her shoulder comfortingly.

"You see, we've seen several kids around Anakin's age. Hell, sometimes even older, that grow up to have incredible abilities; abilities that sometimes far surpassed the ones who grew up sheltered and trained from young age inside the Jedi Temple. Even we were taken in older than he is, but that was a long time ago when things had been different. If only-" Cindy was saying, but stopped short as she and the others felt Anakin's emotions through the Force.

"Excuse me, Shmi." Cindy said as she patted Shmi's shoulder one last time and rushed down into the auto-shop with the others hot on her heels.

"You little son of a Took!" Traban said, or more like coughed out, as he waved away the smoke coming from the engines while Anakin was busy wheezing and coughing along with the others.

"W-What… ack… What happened in here?" Cindy asked as she used the Force to drive out the smoke along with Huey's help.

"The little brat was running off at the mouth and making smart-ass comments while I was the one rebuilding the engines. Then he had the nerve to tell me I was doing it wrong, and he went back and fucked up the engines right when I was turning them on." Traban said, trying to regain his calm, but failing miserably, "His ass needs a good belting, that's what I think!"

The others just stood there in shock at the fact that the normally laid-back and calm man was in a rage as he glared down at Anakin, pointing at the boy as the kid tried to hide behind his mother while glaring back at Traban.

"Oh sure, he's good for his age, but I've been putting together things since before the name Skywalker was even thought up!" Traban raged as Huey smirked a bit, finding it highly amusing that a small boy had gotten Traban into such a fit. Traban was muttering to himself as he wiped his face clean and his hands before he shrugged on his robe.

"I'm sure Anakin didn't mean any of it-" Padme tried, but Traban's glare made her words die in her throat.

"Oh no, the brat _meant_ it! Telling me that _I'm_ not allowing enough power to the main thrusters. How dare he!" Traban muttered darkly to himself as he looked at the pod-racer in disgust and then Anakin.

"I'm going inside, taking a shower, and then I'm going to cook lunch. You Anakin, will be going to your room and staying there for the remainder of the day until I say otherwise." Traban said firmly as Anakin jumped from behind his mom.

"You can't do that!" Anakin yelled before he looked to his mom, "He can't… right, Mom?"

Shmi closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. Her gaze fell on Traban as he stood there giving her the same look of a father that expected her to discipline her child the way he had done with her. She now knew that the young-looking man before her had a lot more experience raising children than she did, and if he felt that Anakin needed a time-out, then she agreed with his judgment.

"Yes, Anakin. Yes he can. You were out of line disrespecting our guest like that, especially when they're trying to help you with your racer. Go to your room until he tells you to come out." Shmi said sternly as she placed her hands on her hips, looking down at her stuttering son.

"B-But it's _my_ ship!" Anakin said as Shmi didn't budge.

"Go to your room, Anakin. And stay there." Shmi said firmly as she nudged him to go. Anakin looked around the room, seeing that the others were avoiding his gaze. Even Qui-Gon looked away from him when he sent a glance for help.

Anakin, seeing that no one was coming to his side, glared at Traban as he threw down his wrench and stomped out of the auto-shop and out of sight.

"I'm sorry that I made you do that, but the boy needs a firm hand on him. His emotions are too wild if we're to help him." Traban said with a sigh as Shmi shook her head.

"No, no, it wasn't your fault. I always told him that freedom was a blessing, and I allowed him too much of that. I should have been more firm on him instead of letting him enjoy the wilds he does. He's normally such a good boy that I never have to punish him, but when he gets overly emotional…" Shmi said, trailing off as she sighed tiredly.

Qui-Gon laid a hand on her shoulder as Cindy did the same to the other. She sent both of them a smile before she heard shouts coming from the house while Traban had gone inside to wash up.

She was getting too old for it all…

* * *

><p>Huey sighed in relaxation as he stepped out onto the enclosed-terrace room he was forced to share with Riley and Traban while Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were made to share Anakin's workroom as quarters. Padme and Cindy, however, were "lucky" enough to have gotten the only actual spare room which Shmi helped fix up for them. Huey rolled his eyes at the thought as he saw Cindy coming out of the bathroom, fully-clothed while she used a towel to dry her face and clean behind her ears. She gave him a look as Padme quickly ducked into the bathroom to take her own shower while Traban was cooking and Shmi was working hours. Riley had gone out "hunting" while Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were meditating on the living room floor.<p>

Cindy glanced back at the bathroom door as she walked up to Huey, standing on her tip-toes to whisper into his ear.

"Traban's cooking, so he can't watch Anakin or the others, but I want you to guard and watch that door while Padme's taking her shower." Cindy said as she pointed at the bathroom where Huey could hear water running faintly, "If any of those boys try to sneak a peek at her, I want you to hang them by their toes and beat them with a rusty spoon repeatedly."

"How is that a punishment?" Huey asked with a raised brow.

"Because it'll give me enough time to plan how their deaths were terrible and tragic _accidents_ that _no one_ foresaw happening." Cindy said darkly, giving Huey a look that made him fear her a little. Then he remembered who was she and nodded quickly.

He had _good_ reason to fear _her_…

Cindy sighed happily as she gave Huey a peek on the cheek, and skipped away as if all was merry with the galaxy. She moved over to her bag which Riley had bought to her earlier from the ship, and took out a hair-brush. Taking the brush in hand, she glanced off to the kitchen and saw Traban was in the middle of cooking. She huffed in childish anger as she wanted one of her boys to brush her hair for her. It always made her feel calmer and more at peace when she could just give herself over to one of them. With a growl of annoyance, Cindy began brushing her own long blonde hair while cursing the planet for it's effects on her beautiful crown of sun-kissed blonde hair.

"Ms. Cindy, can I come out now?" Anakin asked as Cindy frowned a bit from her spot in front the mirror.

"No, only Traban can let you out. Besides; you're grounded for the day anyway, little man." Cindy said as she heard Anakin's huffing and puffing.

Cindy shook her head lightly with a chuckle as she began to braid her hair. She sighed, noticing it wasn't as good as when Traban had done it before the mission. Her eyes glanced off toward Anakin's room when she saw the door creak open, but she didn't even get a word out when she saw Traban coming from the kitchen while drying his hands. Traban's eyes snapped toward the door, both he and Cindy seeing Anakin's eye peek out at hem before it widened upon seeing who was looking at him.

"Get the hell back in that room!" Traban said sharply as the young boy jumped and slammed the door shut.

Cindy looked up to see Traban rake a hand through his short black hair with a sigh.

"The brat needs a good spanking… and some structure to go with it." Traban muttered to himself, unaware of that Cindy was watching him.

"Hey, come do my hair for me." Cindy said as she waved Traban over. He looked over at her, surprised she was there before he flashed her a small smile.

"Sure." Traban said before he settled down behind her and began to braid her hair peacefully.

"I need a vacation." Traban said with a sigh as Cindy giggled.

"Then how about this perfect little spot on Naboo that we came across. It's in the capital city of Theed…" Cindy began as Traban chuckled a bit, hearing all about their mission and what had happened to them all so far.

* * *

><p>Padme sighed as she allowed the cool water to rush down her naked body. It was so refreshing after having to play handmaiden to her own doublehandmaiden. After the long day and night, it felt like all her worries were washed away along with the water.

She didn't even bother with feeling down about the whole situation, especially when she reached for clothes and realized they weren't there.

"Oh, crap…" Padme said, picking up the word from Jedi Master Traban Tousen when he had seen the engine about to blow.

"I must have forgot about them while I was trying to feel not so… exposed about showering in another person's house." Padme said aloud to herself as she bit her lower lip.

"Well, there's only two things to do in times like this…" Padme began to herself, "I can either run out of here stark naked as the day I was born with only a towel covering my modesty and pride. That on, one hand, would have gotten me popular in school, but on the other; I'd be mortified and everyone in the house might see me. The other option is…" Padme said, her gaze drifting off to the door where she knew someone was standing right outside.

Padme took a deep breath before she tightened the towel around her body. She knocked on the door twice before she cracked it open for only one of her eyes to peek through. She couldn't see who was outside the door, but that also meant they couldn't see her. At least… she thought that was how it worked…

That was how it worked, right…?

"Umm… can you please get me my clothes." Padme said and paused, but the figure only moved slightly, "You see, I left them in my room on the bed, and… Well, I need you to get them for me. Please…?" Padme said sweetly as the figure let out a barely audio sigh of annoyance before going.

Padme watched with the door still cracked as wide as for eye as the figure's shadow moved away. She sighed in relief as she moved from the door, realizing that her hair was still dripping wet. She took the towel from her body and began drying her hair while she let her thoughts wander. Padme didn't know why, but her mind went back to her and Obi-Wan's conversation about the Jedi's Way of Life. She simply couldn't comprehend all the things the Jedi were made to give up in order to keep the peace of the entire galaxy. To give up a normal family, a normal childhood, normal friends, and relationships? Emotions, attachments, love, and desire…? She didn't know if she could-

Having been so deeply lost in thought, it stood to reason why Padme's eyes were as wide as saucers when she turned around and took in a sharp breath as she saw the creak-opened door swing wide open. In her surprise, she had only been able to process freezing up on the spot as a main function in her mind while Jedi Master Huey Freeman (she wished it was _anyone_ but him!) walked in looking down at her clothes in his hands. Her hands (and towel) were still wrist-deep in her hair as Huey took one annoyed glance at her before doing a double-take. She was still frozen as if she would die any minute when Huey's eyes roamed over her body from head to toe and then back up, drinking in every inch of her frame to commit to memory. Her entire body went red when her mind started to slowly come out of it's one-function mode, but by then she could practically feel his eyes upon her in ways she never felt from anyone before.

Would she be wrong in saying that it made her feel… kinda proud of her body? That his gaze on her made her feel… beautiful? Maybe even… sexy?

"Here's your clothes, girl. Now get dressed and get out, others have to use the shower too." Huey said, his tone completely unaffected by her nudity though his eyes lingered when he turned away slowly and walked out of the refresher.

Huey closed the door gently while Padme's mind started up all of it's processing like a droid that had been re-booted as she gaped in silent embarrassment at the closed door. Her body blushed heavily as she hurriedly dried her hair and body before getting dressed in record time and rushing out like death was hanging over her.

Cindy and Traban raised a brow and exchanged looks when they saw Huey enter the bathroom, stand there for two minutes, then say something before he slowly turned around, and walked out. It wasn't even a full minute before a fully-clothed Padme burst out of the bathroom at top speed and raced into the room she shared with Cindy, all the while her face was as red as a tomato.

Traban blinked in confusion, having no clue why the girl was so flustered while Cindy was dying of laughter as she leaned into his lap for support before she fell over.

"I don't get it. What's so funny?" Traban asked as Cindy stopped laughing long enough to give him a look.

"You are so damn oblivious!" Cindy said right before she went into more bouts of laughter. Traban merely frowned at her as he finished with her hair, standing up as she fell to the floor with a pointed glare at him.

"Well, now that I'm through with cooking and everyone has cleansed themselves… for no reason, we can go work on the racer. We still have that engine to finish, all thanks to that brat. We'll need to get any money Riley has for new parts… because of that brat. So let's get a move on; that Boonta race won't be run by pushing the damn pod… thanks all in whole to that brat!" Traban raved as he stormed out of the house while Cindy only giggled at him for his antics. Before leaving with Traban, Cindy stopped at Qui-Gon, as Huey left to go with Traban as well; who had fallen asleep during his meditations along with Obi-Wan. Though Qui-Gon wasn't the one to fall over and curl up to a rock for a pillow…

"Qui-Gon, be sure to watch over little Anakin and the others while we're out. Huey, Traban, and I are going to secure more parts for the pod-racer, and Shmi is out working." Cindy said as Qui-Gon shook himself free of sleep and nodded, getting up and stretching while Cindy told him what he needed to know.

"They'll be safe in my care, Madam Cindy." Qui-Gon said as Cindy smiled.

"Just Cindy, Qui-Gon. You look older than me anyway." Cindy said as she patted his shoulder before rushing out the door.

Once they were gone, Padme came out of her room and rested her body against the door frame with a blush on her cheeks. Her thoughts kept lingering on how Huey had seen her naked and looked her up and down as if comparing her body to that of another woman. Obi-Wan, who was completely oblivious to this had walked up to her groggily and looked her up and down. She almost screamed and called him a perv (a word she didn't even know she knew) before his eyes went wide and his face colored.

"What?" Padme snapped womanishly, placing her hands on her hips and her chin high with pride as she stuck out her chest.

"Your robes are undone… and so are your undergarments…" Obi-Wan said before he fainted with a dark red face. Padme looked down and saw that the ties and bows she had done hurriedly in the bathroom had come undone on both her outer and inner dressings, exposing her frontally nudity to Obi-Wan while Qui-Gon looked her straight in her eyes with a raised brow.

"Are you going to fix those before Anakin comes out to peek?" Qui-Gon asked coolly as Padme gave a cry of embarrassment and darted back into her room. Qui-Gon only chuckled as he picked Ben up from the floor and placed him on the couch.

Kids… so hormonal, and yet so shy about their bodies… Thank the Force he was raised as a Jedi _and_ that he was getting old…

* * *

><p>"Thanks, Reezy!" Cindy said, waving as she, Huey, and Traban walked away from Riley, who looked highly confused.<p>

"The fuck?" they heard Riley ask aloud as they walked away, into the market-plaza of Mos Espa.

"So what now?" Huey asked as Traban shrugged while Cindy was scanning the area. They couldn't go to Watto for the parts they needed, mostly because Cindy thought the Toydarian junk dealer was already costing them too damn much.

"We'll look for some cheap deals, I suppose. We don't need anything expensive. All the parts have to do is last throughout the race. After that, I don't really care what happens to them." Traban said as Huey glanced at him and raised a brow.

* * *

><p>Cindy, Huey, and Traban had gone through at least seven of the nine junk-shops in the area, buying parts while Cindy's annoyance only kept rising higher and higher.<p>

"Damn junk dealers. Its _junk_, not diamonds!" Cindy grumbled irritably as she stomped her way toward the Skywalker home while Traban and Huey carried the purchased parts behind her, both not even fazed by their friend's annoyance.

"But its junk that people in this area need, thus makes it valuable." Traban said politely, though his smirk was furthering Cindy's anger spoke volumes. Cindy turned on heel and gave Traban a look of annoyance that made him chuckle while Huey was smirking coolly.

"Shut up, you! On any other planet, they'd be shot for this bullshit!" Cindy snapped as Traban looked a little shocked at her level of anger while Huey raised a brow to it. Huey was about to make a snide comment, but before he could Cindy turned back around and continued storming.

"We're rushed for time, so fuck the revamping of the thrusters; we'll just have to go and bypass the main reactor." Cindy said as Traban and Huey exchanged looks.

"Yes ma'am, Captain McPhearson!" Traban and Huey said with a salute. Cindy looked back at them and glared, though she did so with a ghost of a smile on her lips.

"Shut up, assholes." Cindy said while Huey rolled his eyes.

"Why do we need to bypass the main reactor anyway?" Huey asked as Traban's face darkened.

"Because that brat was trying to show off for those little friends that had come by earlier in the morning. He started the engines up this morning without our being there and broke the main reactor in the engines, causing a shortage in both thrusters." Traban explained as Huey scowled deeply.

"Wouldn't that mean one of the engines is cracked?" Huey asked as Traban frowned in thought.

"And the other set a flame. Though Cindy here was able to repair the crack and the fire damage." Traban said as he sighed and raked his hair back with a hand, "Give me a lightsaber, blaster, or even a computer, and there's no problems. Ships and racers… Now those are hard."

"That boy is really cocky." Cindy said suddenly as she narrowed her eyes in the direction of the Skywalker home, "I mean, he has no safety measures, he shows off at the price of others, and he's beyond reckless."

"He's got some skill and power." Huey said as they started walking again, "The problem is that he has no discipline or control. That makes him a menace to not only himself, but those around him as well; including those he'd care for. I can tell he hates being owned and being thought of as a slave or property."

"But his emotions are the worst part, I think. He allows them to show so clearly, so strongly. I think Force-users planets from here could feel them in the Force. The boy is just so… ruled by his feelings. It's… unsettling…" Traban said with a shake of his head while Huey and Cindy looked grim.

"If we just leave him here, he might kill off everyone he comes in contact with on the planet; his mother being the first to suffer his unintentional wraith." Traban said as Cindy looked away.

"But if we take him with us, he might kill off the galaxy…" Cindy said as Huey and Traban both frowned in thought, arriving at the house and going around to the back.

"We'll talk about this later… when we're all present and each have been around the boy." Huey said firmly as Traban and Cindy nodded.

* * *

><p>"Jazmine…? What are you doing here?" Huey said as Jazmine moved toward him and the others with grace and elegance. She gave a small wave to the others as she focused on Huey.<p>

"Riley came to the ship covered in blood… both his own and that of a creature. He said he was done with this planet, and I came here for the reminder of the day. I thought it'd be good to stretch my legs and see what kind people had taken you all into their home." Jazmine said as she glanced over at Shmi.

"Oh, we were only doing the right thing." Shmi said with a smile as she lightly shook Jazmine's hand, "Hello, I'm Shmi Skywalker, and that's my son; Anakin." Shmi said as she gestured over at the blond halfway inside the pod-racer.

"Hi, I'm Jazmine Dubois. I'm Huey's wife." Jazmine said as Huey wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Shmi didn't seem surprised as she smiled at them and their love.

"Oh my, you two make a lovely couple." Shmi said honestly as Jazmine blushed lightly.

"Thanks." Jazmine said as Huey rolled his eyes.

"Ow!" Anakin's voice rang out as Huey and Jazmine hurriedly turned toward the house.

"That damn boy is gonna be the death of one of us…" Cindy muttered as she and the others followed Huey and Jazmine.

* * *

><p>Anakin sat on the balcony rail inside the greenhouse terrace while Jazmine tended to the long cut on the boy's arm.<p>

"You need to pay attention to what you are doing, Anakin." Jazmine said as Anakin sighed, leaning back and looking up at the vast darkness of the sky with only the stars for light.

"Keep still, Anakin. I have to clean this wound, or else it might get infected." Jazmine said calmly as she started to dab at his cut with a cotton ball that had some kind of green salve on it.

"But there are so many." Anakin said, referring to the stars above them, "Do they all have a system of planets?"

"I see you were paying attention to young Ben's tales during lunch." Jazmine said as she tossed the cotton pad in the trash before grabbing some gauzes from her medical bag, "Yes, most of them have their own system, or they used to at any rate."

"Has anyone been to all of them?" Anakin asked as Jazmine giggled at his innocence.

"No, not likely, little Anakin. Well… not unless they're living a very long life." Jazmine said as Anakin suddenly gained a huge smile.

"Then I want to be the first one to see them all!" Anakin proclaimed as Jazmine shook her head with an amused smile on her face.

The boy was simply too much of a little adventurer.

"There you go, Anakin. Good as new." Jazmine said, putting her supplies away. Using normal healing methods always took so long, but she didn't want to reveal too much to the boy just yet.

"_Especially with what he'll turn into later on in life… Though I guess the reason the others hadn't brought it up is because they hoped to change that. I do, too, but-_" Jazmine thought before she heard Shmi's voice from inside.

"Annie! Bedtime!" Shmi called as Jazmine sighed, looking out the glass domed-terrace to the darken hovels outside.

It was already dark and they had barely made any real progress with that pod-racer. Jazmine sighed again as she wiped the bloodied wipe onto a data-chip without remembering that Anakin was still there.

"What are you doing?" Anakin asked curiously, his head titled with childish innocence. Jazmine jumped slightly as she looked to him, a small frown upon her face from being caught up in her thoughts.

"Didn't your mother call for you to go to bed?" Jazmine shot back as Anakin grinned.

"Yeah, but what'cha doing?" Anakin said as Jazmine rolled her eyes.

"As a healer, I'm just checking to see if your blood has any infections in it." Jazmine lied with ease, though most people would have been able to catch her in that lie.

Thankfully, Anakin Skywalker wasn't like most people.

"Okay. But I've never seen any-" Anakin began, but was cut off by his mother's voice.

"Annie! I'm not going to tell you again!" Shmi yelled from inside as Jazmine giggled softly, nudging the young Skywalker toward the terrace entrance.

"Go on, Annie. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow. Goodnight." Jazmine said as Anakin rolled his eyes before he ran into his home.

As soon as she was sure Anakin was fully in the house and far away, Jazmine put the bloodstained data-chip into her com-link before she called Ming and Riley.

"Yo, this be Young Reezy. Who this?" Jazmine rolled her eyes as she sat along the stone railing of the terrace overlooking the night.

"Riley, how many times do we have to tell you. You're over 800 years old. You're not _young_ anything." Jazmine said as Riley scoffed. Jazmine chose not to start an argument with Riley over his moniker, so she pressed on before he could counter, "Anyways, I need you to make an analysis of the blood sample I'm sending you. This is serious."

"Ming's here too, so we ready." Riley said as Jazmine heard shifting over the com-link.

"What do you need?" Ming asked as Jazmine sighed.

"A midi-chlorian count." Jazmine said as she heard typing and then a pause.

"Alright, got it." Riley said as Jazmine raised a brow. Had Riley or Ming grown better with computers over the last hundred years?

Somehow, she doubted it…

"What are the readings?" Jazmine asked as she heard her two friends humming in thought and muttering before more typing.

"Something must be wrong here." Ming said, though to herself or to Jazmine, Jazmine didn't know.

"What is it?" Jazmine asked as she shifted her weight on the railing.

"The count… it's nearly off the charts. It's over 20,000. It's just barely over Riley, mine, and yours. It's nearly as large as Traban, Huey, and Cindy's counts were last time we checked." Ming said as Jazmine bite down on her lip hard enough to draw blood. She placed her lip to a new chip and kissed it.

"Try this one." Jazmine said.

"Whose is this?" Riley asked.

"Mine. The last time we checked was well over a hundred years ago." Jazmine said as Riley grunted.

"Alright… the count is just a bit higher than that first one you sent us. Not even an entire hundred higher." Riley said as Jazmine sighed.

"Then Huey and the others' counts have grown higher as well along with you guys." Jazmine said with a sigh of relief.

"… That first one was Anakin Skywalker's count, wasn't it?" Riley asked after a short pause.

"Yeah…" Jazmine admitted somberly before she straightened up, sanding from the railing, "Listen, I'll come to the ship at first light tomorrow so Riley can get back to helping with the racer. Both of you get some sleep. Jazmine, out."

"… You do know you don't have to say "out" and shit when you end a com-call, right?" Riley asked as Jazmine huffed.

"I just wanted to be all cool and mysterious!" Jazmine said as Riley snorted at her while Ming scoffed.

"Jazmine, you are a healer, and we _know_ you." Ming said slowly as though she were making her point perfectly clear, an air of smug mirth to her tone, "Though nice try." Ming said as Jazmine growled.

"Good-bye, meanies." Jazmine said before ending the transmission on her laughing friends.

The Jedi Healer sighed as she turned to go back inside, but paused in shock as she saw Shmi Skywalker standing in the doorway while watching her, an embarrassed look on the young mother's face before she turned and headed back to the kitchen. Jazmine looked up at the stars above, wondering what the future had in store for them.

And she hoped it was as peaceful as the night sky above her…

* * *

><p>Padme exited the Skywalker hovel, stretching and yawning as she looked out over the city.<p>

"_It looks so peaceful_…"She thought, as she looked down to see R2 putting the finishing touches on the paint job to the pod.

"Nearly finished?" she asks the astromech droid.

The astromech-droid whistled positively as Padme turned and saw that Anakin must have snuck out during the night. The young boy was laying against one of the repaired engines, fast asleep.

"He's been like that for at least three hours." a voice said behind her as she turned on heel to see Huey and Obi-Wan coming over to her.

Obi-Wan came up to her and touched her shoulder lightly before he jabbed a thumb toward where the boy, Kitster (a boy of Anakin's age that Anakin had introduced them to yesterday), was riding toward them on a strange camel-like creature while leading a second behind him.

Padme moved toward Anakin as she noted how he vulnerable he looked as he slept. He was like an innocent little child, instead of the impulsive and reckless little devil he really was. She studied him for a moment in silence before she reached out gently, hesitantly, and stroked his cheek. Padme jumped in surprise as the boy's eyes snapped open and he jerked awake at the contact. He looked so alert, so focused for that spilt second before he blinked his eyes, yawning and stretching while he gave her a puzzled look.

"You were in my dream." Anakin said as Padme raised a brow. She hoped he wasn't having any of those "big boy" dreams about her, or it would be a very awkward conversation, "You were leading a huge army into battle." Padme gave a sigh of relief before she shook her head at his words.

"I hope not; I hate fighting." Padme said honestly, "You better go inside. Your mother was looking for you. Best clean up, cause we have to leave soon."

Anakin stood to his feet after nodding to her before he stretched even more and turned just as Kitster arrives.

"Hook 'em up, Kitster." Anakin said before he looked back at Padme while Obi-Wan went to help Kitster, and Huey went back toward the Skywalker home with a sigh, "I won't be too long. Where are the others?"

Padme smiled as she rose to full height, dusting off her robes as she did so, "They've left already. I think they went to meet with Watto at the arena."

"Okay." Anakin said before he rushed toward the house, slipping in just before Huey, who scowled at the boy's early morning energy.

He needed his damn morning coffee…

* * *

><p>Riley grunted as he stifled yet another yawn that threatened to escape him. Damn Cindy for waking him so early in the morning just so they could figure out another plan of action just in case Anakin failed them. Like her and Huey asses weren't enough to deal with anything that went down, but they asses had Traban too. He wanted some sleep, some good all-day long hours of sleep. His eyes, though heavy and tired, were still rather alert as he scanned the area. Racing crews were mill about the large building with over a dozen pod-racers being readied for this enormous race. Alien crews and pilots were rushing around while making last minute adjustments on their vehicles.<p>

Riley turned his attention to the woman who was making powerful strides in front of him. Cindy's ass would looking amazing… that was, if the damn heavy robe wasn't covering it. Riley then turned his head to where Traban was walking beside him, looking so rested and at ease with the early morning wake-up Cindy and Huey had given them, that it sorta pissed Riley off. He hated niggas that were so calm and collected, it made him feel like a nervous wreck compared to them, even though he didn't show it.

Riley's thoughts on the matter were interrupted, however, as through the background activity, Watto came up to Cindy and began flying near his wife's shoulder. Riley didn't catch what the little blue bug was saying, but decided that he should actually pay attention since the thing looked pretty excited and greedy about something.

"… and then I want to see your spaceship the moment the race is over." Watto said as Cindy sighed, running a hand to smooth out her blonde hair atop her head that wasn't in the two braids.

"Can you chill out, Watto? Damn, I promise you that you'll have what you want before the suns set… and we'll be far away from here." Cindy said as Watto snorted at her words.

"Not if your ship belongs to me, I think…" Watto said before he gave her a serious look, "I warn you now; no funny business."

"Of course not." Cindy said, looking mildly offended as she stopped, "By the way, have you met my boys here."

Watto looked over Traban's overly calm profile to Riley's one of slight annoyance. The two didn't seem like much, but then again they were all on Tatooine; _no_ _one_ looked half as dangerous as they truly were. Watto gave them a small nod of acknowledgement before he turned back to Cindy, his look even serious.

"No fun business." Watto stated firmly as Cindy quirked a blonde brow.

"You don't think Anakin can win?" Cindy asked as she gave pause for the Toydarian to answer while looking him over.

Watto paused himself at her line of questioning before he cleared his throat, "Don't get me wrong; I have great faith in the boy. He's a credit to your race. But… Sebulba is going to win." Watto said, jabbing a thumb over at an orange pod-racer off to one side. Riley and the others turned to see it was where a Dug having his shoulders and neck massaged by another Dug that looked like the first's twin.

"You're betting on the Dug to win, ain't you?" Riley questioned as he narrowed his eyes at the floating little motherfucker, who looked smug at the question.

"Yes, I am." Watto said simply with his fat chin held high while Traban raised a brow.

"Why?" Traban asked as Watto laughed.

"Because Sebulba always wins." Watto said with a shake of his head in amusement, "I'm betting _heavily_ on Sebulba."

"Well then, in the honor of faith in our only hope of getting off this rock, I think we'll take that bet." Traban said with his hands together inside the sleeves of his robes.

Watto no longer looked amused. In fact, he looked rather suspicious as he frowned at Naruto, "What? What do you mean?"

Traban stepped forward as he pulled a small pouch from the inside of his sleeve. He opened the pouch and pulled out a small pearl the size of a hubcap back on Earth.

"You heard me, my good Toydarian. We'll wager this shiny Dragon's pearl against… say… the boy and his mother."

Watto's eyes had went impossibly wide upon seeing the pearl in Traban's hand, as did Cindy's eyes before she narrowed as she realized that Traban had been holding out on them, having jewels and such when they could have used those bargaining tools.

Though she couldn't argue since he was using the pearl for just that purpose; bargaining.

"I don't know…" Watto said slowly with a very greedy, yet still contemplative look on his face, "Perhaps just one… the mother maybe… the boy isn't for sale."

Traban shook his head, a small pleasantly polite smile on his face.

"The boy is small, my good man. He can't be worth much." Traban said coolly as Watto paused for only a second before he shook his head.

"Now see reason, Mister Watto. I had this pearl appraised. It is apparently worth more than a starship; well… more than the Nubian we currently have, at least. Surely that has to be enough for the two." Traban said, and Riley could see that Traban was trying hard not to frown as the edge of his mouth were twitching downward.

Watto's only response of another shake of his blue Toydarian head again.

"Fine then. This Krayt-Dragon pearl for both, or no bet." Traban said, scowling freely as his eyes narrowed while Watto only sighed.

"One jewel; one in which I have not seen appraised, is worth two slaves? Not by a long shot. One slave or nothing." Watto said, the greed in his eyes giving him away to the three unknown Jedi around him.

Before Traban said anything he exchanged glances with Cindy and Riley.

"The boy, then." Cindy said as Watto shot her a glance. He then glanced at all three of them before he sighed and pulled out a small cube from his pocket.

"We'll let fate decide." Watto said, showing them the cube as Cindy stared at him.

"You carry dice around in your pocket…? Why exactly?" Cindy questioned, blinking as Riley raised a brow and Traban looked at Watto oddly.

"During the Bounta, you never know when a game of chance is to happen." Watto said with a light chuckle before getting serious once more, "How about this; if it lands on Blue, then you can have the boy and his mother, but if it lands on Red, then just the mother. Do we have a deal?"

"There are more red spots on that cube than there are blue… I'm sure that this pearl-" Traban tried, but Watto only shook his head once more as he glared at Traban.

"I said a jewel not appraised in my presence is not worth two slaves." Watto said fiercely as Traban grit his teeth before huffing as he pulled out a second pearl, making Cindy's eyes boggle, and Riley roll his eyes. Watto, meanwhile, was nearly salivating with avaricious greed as he wiped at the corners of his mouth.

"Fine then, my blue friend. If you aren't happy with one, then maybe _two_ will make you more agreeable." Traban said, an annoyed look in his eye, "We land on Blue, we get both mother and son… We land on Red… we get neither and _you_ walk away with _both_ these pearls; no questions asked, and no protests raised. All winnings are collected upon that boy winning the race."

Watto seemed to become putty in their hands. First he needed to shake himself free of his stupor before putting on an act of looking vaguely interested and conflicted. They could all see he was, if only a little bit, guarded and suspicious. But then again, who wouldn't be? A deal as good as they were offering? And with Krayt-Dragon pearls on the line? It was enough to make even a Hutt lose their composure and brains to the intensity of greed.

And that was exactly what Traban was hoping to play upon… greatly…

"Hmm… I don't know… But, hey, I'm a gambling man and it's just the setting for such a thing. You drive a hard bargain, but you've got yourself a deal." Watto said as he gave them a grin, shaking on it with Traban as the two nodded to each other before Cindy gestured for Watto to toss the cube.

They all watched as the cube fell through the air before it skittered across the floor, spinning and flipping on its' rounded points as all eyes were locked upon it. Riley and Cindy exchanged glances before both looked at Traban, who was stifling a yawn with his hand to his mouth.

Curious how his hand was moving slightly to the left as he did so…

Riley and Cindy both turned their eyes back to the betting-cube as it slowed along the floor, barely rotating any longer. Cindy, Riley, and Watto held their breath as they watched the cube totter on its rounded side…

…before landing on blue.

Cindy and Riley's eyes were only slightly wide at the level of concentration Traban had to have used to make it seem like he wasn't cheating, but their thoughts weren't on mind for long as they heard Watto cursing in Huttese.

"This is impossible! How could _you_ have won! You must have cheated!" Watto whispered harshly at them.

"Cheated? But how would we? There were more red spots than the single blue. Plus…" Cindy said, trailing off as she gingerly picked up the cube, tossing it in the air a few times, "this cube is weighted. Having five sides weighted will eventually cause the unhampered side to end face-up. Thankfully, we were betting on a good day."

"Might wanna get yo'self some new dice, nigga." Riley said as Watto glared at them all, especially Traban as he nodded innocently.

"Normally, cheating on this level would be taken to the Hutt; won against or not." Traban said, tapping at his chin as Watto seemed to turn less… blue, "But considering we were fortunate today, we won't report this matter. That is, unless you get rowdy. In which case, we just may need to speak with the local Hutt leader and explain all of today's events, including this little… incident."

Watto could do no more than glare at the trio as he pointed a stubby, pudgy finger at them threateningly, "You might have won the small toss, outlanders, but you won't win the race, so it makes little difference." and with that said and made clear, the Toydarian huffed with one final poisonous glare before fluttering away in a hurry.

As soon as Watto had flown away, Cindy released a sigh of relief as she stomped on Traban's foot as though she didn't even notice she had done so, nor Traban's yelp of intense pain while Riley sniggered.

Ow! What the hell, Cin-" Traban never got to finish as the blonde grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him down to her level as she glared deeply into his soul.

"What and where the hell did you get not one, but two Krayt-Dragon pearls?" Cindy whispered deadly in his face as Traban and Riley both quivered in fear of the pissed-off blonde bomber known as Cindy "Fearsome" McPhearson.

"Oh, well… Funny story about that- Oph!" Traban said, close-eyed and scratching at the back of his neck before Cindy punched him in the stomach, causing him to fall to his knees in pain and collapse into the fetal position as he clutched his attacked middle.

Cindy turned to Riley with the same gleam in her blue eyes as Riley held his hands up in surrender, "Aye, babe, don't look at me. It was all that nigga. I promise you."

"T-they're fake…" Traban gasped from the floor as he rolled onto his back and sprawled out, gasping for breath as he did so, "They're just smoothed and polished Cassin-rocks from the Coruscant Underground… I got them for Ming about a few hundred years ago, thinking they were real Krayt-Dragon pearls, but I had been ripped off and never saw the dealer again… I kept them when Ming gave them back to me when we parted… I found them again when we were in my hidden vault on Nar Shadda…"

"Oh, that all?" Cindy said, looking as though he had explained a whacky situation before she gave him a swift kick to the ribs, causing the downed Jedi to groan in pain, "Next time, _don't_ make me think that you had the means to get us _off_ this fuckin' rock all along and were about to gamble it away because you wanted to save a few people we could come back and pick up. I swear to the _Force_ if you ever do again, I'll skin you alive with my _lightsaber_… at _half_ power."

"Yes, Ma'am… Sorry, Ma'am…" Traban moaned as he went back to the fetal position. Cindy huffed, flipping a bang of her out of her face as she turned on hell and walked away.

"C'mon, Reezy. Let's bounce." Cindy said, striding away while Riley whistled.

"Damn, yo ass is grass. Later, nigga!" Riley said, jogging to catch up to Cindy as Traban picked himself off the ground and dusted off his robes, "Yo, C-Murph! Wait up!"

* * *

><p>"Need some help up, my friend?" Qui-Gon's voice asked as Traban peeked past his huddled shoulder. Jumping to his feet, Traban brushed himself off as Qui-Gon continued to give him an amused look, "I saw everything. I suppose you'd want to have some of your pride left from the crumbled heap of it on the floor."<p>

"Yes, well sweep it up for me then, won't you?" Traban said as he held his head up high.

"Of course, I'll just do that after we've completed the mission." Qui-Gon said as Traban's show of antics faltered a bit.

"Where are the others? I'm sure they'd have no problem gathering my pride from the floor and taping it back together." Traban said as Qui-Gon chuckled.

"They're on their way as we speak. They told me to go ahead as Obi-Wan goes aboard the ship along with Masters Ming and Jazmine. They also said to give you this." Qui-Gon said as he reached into his robes and handed Traban a folded-up scrap of paper. Traban unfolded it and scanned it quickly, his eyebrow quirking as he did.

"Interesting…" Traban muttered as he turned on heel and, with Qui-Gon at his side, began to move toward where Cindy and Riley were waiting.

"What's that?" Riley asked as Traban handed the scrap of paper to him, "Oh hell naw!"

"What is it, Reezy?" Cindy asked as Riley handed her the message, "The fuck is this?"

"Our parts in this little drama, per Huey Freeman; the greatest playwright of our age." Traban said praisingly as he stretched a hand toward the ceiling like an actor.

"More like the greatest dumbass of our time." Cindy said with a furious scowl, "I ain't doin' this shit."

"Neither am I. This shit fucked up, man!" Riley said, stomping his foot, "How come Qui-Gon ain't got no part?"

"Because Qui-Gon's job is only to stand there and look pretty." Huey's voice came flippantly from behind them as they all spun to see him walking toward them with Jazmine, Anakin, and Padme all not far behind, "The dangerous parts are mostly up to Traban, Anakin, and myself. Just do what I asked and we'll be off this planet in no time."

Cindy and Riley exchanged long debating looks before both finally conceded to Huey's demands. Moving to gaze behind Huey, they all could see Anakin, Jazmine, and Padme entering the hanger with one of the hover-dollies carrying the pod-racer's engine along.

"Who's that kid with them, though?" Cindy muttered as Riley nudged her.

"That's Annie's little homie, Kitster. Way I hear it, they been cool since the sandbox." Riley informed as Cindy smiled lightly, waving to the young boy chatting alongside Anakin and C-3PO.

"Isn't that R2-D2 with them, pulling the racer?" Riley said, squinting to see past the bare droid to see the smaller trash-can like one, "Off the fuck on; isn't that Shmi sitting on the damn pod-racer?"

"Probably." Traban shrugged.

"We needed to be sure everyone was being watched at all times. We don't need anyone getting kidnapped and forcing Anakin into forfeiting the race." Huey explained as he cast a glance at his younger brother.

"Nigga, you need to stop watching all them damn detective shows." Riley said with a smirk as Huey scowled at him.

As they watched the parade of people come toward them, Cindy, Riley, and Traban all held their breath when Watto passed Anakin while leaving the hanger.

"_You had better stop your friends' betting, or I'll end up owning them, too_." Watto said in Huttese loud enough for all to hear before fluttering off with a laugh.

As soon as he reached them, Anakin asked about it as he continued to give Watto's retreating form curious glances, "What did Watto mean by that?"

"I'm sure it was nothing. We simply pointed out a flaw in his gambling ways with our superior ones." Traban said with a smirk as Cindy scowled.

"No, this jackass wanna play around. So remember this Annie; don't fuck with women, because you'll get fucked up." Cindy said as Traban's chuckled weakly, edging away from Cindy and Riley as he hid slightly behind Huey and Qui-Gon.

"Huh?" Anakin asked in confusion.

"Trust me, Anakin; you'll learn later in life." Qui-Gon said jovially.

While Anakin was learning the ways of women, Padme was looking at Kitster in disbelief when he let it slip that Anakin had never won a race before, and hadn't even finished one either. Jazmine placed a reassuring hand on Padme's shoulder, keeping her from saying anything while Kitster gave Anakin an approving and confident look, complete with a thumbs-up and smile.

"You'll do it this time. I just know it, Annie!" Kitster said full of belief as Anakin nodded back to him with a confident smirk.

"Yeah, I will." Anakin replied as Qui-Gon clapped a hand to his shoulder and his mother knelt to his level for a hug.

"Of course he will. We all have faith." Qui-Gon said.

Meanwhile, Cindy and Riley were shooting Huey's calm façade many curious and worried looks. They, like everyone else that knew the afro-headed Freeman, wondered he had in store for the race. Though knowing Huey Freeman, it would be something worthy of an Academy Award in the categories of Chaos and Disaster for just about anyone who got in their way.

"Well then, let's get started, shall we?"


End file.
